werewolves in love
by buffyozwolfgurl
Summary: I have read about 100 buffy and oz stories so I am writting my own. This is season 3 and 4 rewritten my way.
1. Beauty and the beasts

Chapter One: Beauty and the Beasts

Buffy and Faith were patrolling in the west graveyard. They were talking about Scott to pass the time.

"My favorite part is that he doesn't seem to be any kind of hell beast",Buffy said talking about Scott.

"All men are beasts, B", Faith said cynically.

"Okay I was hoping to not get that cynical til I was 40",Buffy said reacting to Faith's comment.

"It's not cynical. I mean it's realistic. Every guy from manimal to Mr. I love the English Patient has beast in him. I don't care how sensitive they act; they're all in it for the chase. So one more sweep?",Faith asked.

"nah I'll stop up by the forest on my way home",Buffy said.

"Cool. Later", Faith said going the opposite way of Buffy.

Buffy headed up to the forest and heard rustling in some bushes on her way up and she went to go check it out and then everything went black. She woke up an hour later with a bite mark on her arm (which went away the next day). Then she headed for home wondering who or what bit her.

The next day at school the thought escaped her entirely. She caught up with Willow and Oz and told them about what Faith said about men being beasts.

"I don't think that's true about all men being in it for the chase",Willow said as they were walking up the stairs.

"I know it is an awful generalization",Buffy was interupted by Scott.

"Hey Buffy", Scott said "That's what I stopped you for to say hey".

"Ok. hey",she answeres him.

"Howdy Debbie", Oz said acknowledging the other couple who were Scott's friends; Debbie and Pete.

"Hey Oz. You're not in jazz band this year?",Debbie asked.

"Oh, can't take the pressure. It's not the music that's hard, it's the marching",Oz said.

"We have a marching jazz band",Buffy asked feeling stupid for not knowing this.

"Yeah, but since the best jazz is improvasational we'd be going off in all different directions, banging into floats. Scary.",Oz said.

"Those are pretty flowers Debbie",Buffy said acknowledging the flowers Pete gave her.

"Thanks Pete gave them to me",Debbie said looking at Pete.

"Yeah well, I'm sure Scott gets you all kind of stuff like that Buffy",Pete said.

"We're not up to flowers. Are we up to flowers? Did I miss flowers?",Scott asked worriedly.

"No we're pre-posey definitely",Buffy said. "Times up I have to go see Platt, I have to convince him I'm little miss sanity to stay in school".

"Platt creeps me out. I would totally stop going but I'm flunking senior bio and my teacher says I have success issues",Debbie said laughingly.

"Senior bio? I kind of aced that final",Oz said.

"And how did you do that? Oh yeah, you showed up",Willow said proudly.

"If you want my notes they're yours",Oz offered.

"Thanks",Debbie said. Then the bell rang.

"We'd better go",Buffy said and kissed Scott before going to Platt's.

While Oz and Willow went to the libary.

"We need to recheck every possible exit avenue"Giles said to Xander talking about Oz possibly getting out of his cage last night.

Someone was murdered last night; well actually mauled last night and as usaual Giles was worried and when he's worried he paces.

"I'm telling you you're wasting your time. I was here all night",Xander said as they walked over to the cage.

Oz and Willow walked in the libary.

"Right. Good to see you no need to panic",Giles lied badly.

Oz and Willow saw right through him.

"Just a thought poker not your game",Oz said jokingly.

"What's the deal Giles",Willow asked seriously. Giles looked at them.

"Now bear in mind there most likely is no deal. But if there was a deal it would concern murder last night. A male student was found in the woods",Giles said.

"Which student",Willow asked curiously.

"Jeff Orkin",Giles said looking at her.

"Jeff he was-- I knew him",Oz said. Giles started to pace.

"I'm afraid he was horribly mauled, now as much as I hate to think it. It could be the handiwork of--",Giles told them. "Me",Oz finished sadly.

"Wolf-you not you-you",Willow said trying to comfort him.

"But it's not. Not wolf-you not you-you. The room was secured. The gate was locked. The window unbreakable--",Xander said walking over to the window in the cage to see that it was open.

" and open",Xander finishes.

"Oh god",Willow says worried as her and Oz go to see if the window was actually open.

"Not to freak. I rested my eyes now and then. That's all",Xander said nonchalently.

"How long exactly did you rest your eyes for",Giles asked sternly.

"A little now and a little then, But I never heard Oz leave and he was here in the morning when I",Xander said trying not to dig himself in a bigger hole than he already was.

Everyone was looking at him with either dissapointment or anger.

"Woke up",Giles said angrily. "You could put it that way if you want ",Xander said.

"Oh god",Willow said worridly.

Oz walks over to her and she holds his hand and looks at him worried. After an hour Oz,Willow,Cordelia,Xander and Giles were sitting on the steps looking sad when Buffy walked in.

"I'm afraid to ask",Buffy said as she sat her purse on the table.

"Oz ate someone last night",Cordelia said boldly.

"He did not",Willow said comming to her boyfriend's defense.

"Oz does not eat people",Xander started to correct her. "It 's more werewolf play. You know I bat you around like a cat toy. I have harmless wolf fun. Is it Oz's fault that the side-effect is people get cut to ribbons and maybe then I'll take a nibble. I'm not helping am I?",Everyone glares at him making the answer to his question obvious.

"No. Oz may have got out of his cage last night",Giles informed Buffy.

"Or maybe there's another werewolf out there roaming the woods",Oz said hoping he was right.

"Perhaps. Or something else entirely",Giles said.

"It's okay we'll figure this out",Buffy said trying to get their hopes up.

"Yes umm Buffy you will patrol the woods and the others will check out the morgue",Giles told them.

"Right we can see if it's a werewolf kill or not. But what about Oz",Willow asked.

"Umm I have some research materials at home I need to look at. Uh we could ask Faith to watch over him",Giles said.

"You're having a slayer watch me. Good thing we're not overacting",Oz told them sarcastically.

Oz walked away from the rest of the group but Willow followed him. Buffy couldn't help but feel sorry for the two; Oz for the obvious and Willow because she knew how she felt. She had been there with Angel and she knew how it felt to think your boyfriend was responsible for someone else's death but it was completely beyond his control. Oz turned around to face Willow.

"You know that thing where you bail in the middle of an upsetting conversation?I need to do that. It's kind of dramatic I know. But a necessary guy thing",Oz said explaining things to her. "And I want you too. Do the guy thing but",Willow said pointing to the clock meaning he was gonna change soon.

Oz walked over to the cage and stepped into it and closed the door. Willow walked up to the cage.

"Oz",Willow said.

"Get away from the cage",Oz told her.

"What",Willow asked surprised and hurt.

But she could understand why he didn't want her there. she was just hurt that he chose not to tell her why.

"It's gonna happen soon. Get away from the cage",Oz told her. Willow backed away from the cage and followed the others out of the libary.

The others looked at Willow sympathetically. But it was Buffy who spoke up.

"You know he doesn't want to shut you out. Right?",Buffy asked her.

"Yeah a part of me knows and another part of me says why can't he just talk to me about it",Willow told her.

"I think he feels that you already have to deal with a lot of monsters and doesn't want you to add him to the list",Buffy explained.

"That makes sense I guess",Willow told her as they walked out the door.

Buffy went as far as the graveyard before she blacked out. When it was morning she woke up naked in the forest.

"What the hell",Buffy said to herself.

Buffy somehow made it to a laundromat without anyone noticing she was naked. She grabbed some clean clothes to at least get home so she could change. Luckily her mom was out of town art buying. Buffy went upstairs to change and then went to the libary just as Willow came in with doughnuts.

"Hey Willow", Buffy said.

"Glazed or cake. It's fun to watch them make them. They use this spritzy thing and they drop the batter into this-",Willow babbled on.

"Couldn't sleep, huh?",Buffy assumed. "I 've been at since the t.v. did that snowy thing. How come you're the wakey girl. This time it's not your boyfriend who's the cold-blooded",Willow said but was interupted by Oz walking over to them.

"Jelly doughnut",Williow asked.

"Everything alright",Oz asked them.

"Yeah, what happend with the inspection of the body?",Buffy asked Willow hanging on her every word.

Buffy still didn't know what happend last night but she knew it was connected to that bite mark she got a couple nights ago.

"Anyone. They're yummy and delicious",Willow said avoiding the question.

"Will come on, was it a werewolf?",Buffy asked. Willow didn't answer.

"Was it a vampire?",Buffy asked intently.

"It wasn't conclusive",Willow told them.

"How could it not be conclusive? What did it look like? Was he bit",Buffy asked angrily.

Giles walked down the stairs to where the three were standing.

"Let her finish Buffy",Giles told her and as soon as he did she turned around to look at him.

"No it's just",Buffy started to say but then looked at Willow and Oz.

They looked confused and taken back at why Buffy was pushing this so much.

"I'm sorry",Buffy told them,

She sat down at the table while the other three looked at her with concern at why Buffy was so invested in this other than the obvious. Buffy went through the day thinking there was something wrong with her. When lunch came around she went and sat by Scott, Debbie and Pete.

"Hey",Buffy told Scott as she sat down at the table.

"Hey , uh I can't back you on that lunch. Nutritional demirits",Scott said indicating her jello-like food that was supposed to be her lunch.

"Umm my stomach doesn't want hard food today. But there's fruit in it",Buffy said pointing to the fruit like marshmellows.

"Those are marshmellows",Scott whispered to her.

"Oh. I'm really out of it today. I didn't sleep well last night",Buffy said.

Truthfully she had other things on her mind.

"Don't tell Platt you have insomnia, he'll make you keep a dream journal",Debbie told her making fun of Platt.

"What's that like a barbie thing--dear dream journal how come Ken hasn't come around since he got that earing",Pete said jokingly.

"I never did it he's a quack",Debbie told them.

"I kinda liked him",Buffy said.

"Really?I guess he's kinda funny and stuff. Sometimes I just don't like the things he says",Debbie said.

"He definitely marches to the beat of his own drummer. Actually I think he makes his own drums",Buffy said.

"My mom says that therapy can be completely helpful",Scott said trying to help.

"Yeah but your mom has the wattage of a zippo lighter Scott",Pete said trying to be funny.

"I hope you realize that I don't actually know these people. I just thought you would like me better with friends. So I hired them. I uh wanted to tell you that you look great today",Scott started to say while he put is hand on her knee.

"But now I want to raise that to amazing because you didn't sleep well."

"Uh that's really sweet uh and I wish I didn't have to but I just remembered I do so I'll see you later",Buffy said feeling uncomfortable.

She walked out of the cafeteria.

"Check out Scotty liking the manic depressive chick",Pete told Scott.

"Buffy went into the libary after finding dead. Faith, Willow and Buffy were sitting at the table while Giles was filling them in about Platt.

"This creature is especially brutal. I believe the phrase used coined by the corner when describing was"pureed". But he did confirm Platt was killed shortly before Buffy found him",Giles told the girls.

"Which means he was killed during the day", Faith pointed out.

"Yes",Willoiw said excitedly.

Everyone stared at her.

"Sorry. I got. I've just been ..it's horrible,horrible",Willow said trying to cover her big mouth.

"It's okay Will we're all glad Oz is off the hook ",Buffy said gladly partly because her bestfriend's boyfriend was off the hook and she was too because she was fully aware of what she was doing in the daylight.

Second part because for some reason she was as excited if not more than Willow which was not supposed to happen with her bestfriends boyfriend.

"Indeed",Giles said looking at his watch. "Shouldn't he be here by now? Sunsets at 5:30",Giles asked worriedly. "Our task now is to determine what sort of killer we are dealing with. Clearly we're looking for a depraved,sadistic animal".

Oz choose that moment to enter the libary.

"Present. Hey I may be a cold-blooded jelly doughnut but my timing is impecable",Oz told them as he walked over to the group.

Willow jumped out of her chair and went over to him.

"But you aren't it's a-kill-in-the-day monster 100% for sure",Willow said excitedly while playing with collar of his shirt.

Buffy was trying to overcome a tinge of jealousy towards which she was trying to ignore.

She was jealous of her bestfriend for her boyfriend this was bad on so many levels.

"Ok",Oz said non chalently while Willow put her arm around him.

"I wish we had time to celebrate properly. However we have two victims-Jeff Orkin and now Platt maybe there's something they had in common",Giles trying to find out who or what this monster was.

Buffy was still worried. She didn't know what was going on with her but she still had the wiggins but she was certain she was off the hook for this one because she rembered days just not nights. "Missing internal organs",Faith said the obvious answer.

"Besides that",Giles said annoyed.

"Debbie",Oz started. "Victin number one-Jeff he was in jazz band with us. They used to horse around."

"They were screwing",Faith asked boldly.

"I don't think so but he hid her music comp book once",Oz told them.

"And we know Debbie knew Platt. She was seeing him and way vocal about not having love for the guy",Buffy said agreeing with Oz.

"Add this and stir. I just saw Debbie a minute ago and sporting a nasty looking black eye",Oz told them.

"Okay so pretend Debbie wanted Platt dead maybe he fought back",Willow said trying to figure out the most obvious question.

"No Platt was dead in an instant. He didn't even drop his cigarette. Now what if boyfriend Pete was the one doiling out the punishment",Buffy asked.

"We should find them both immediately",Giles said worried.

"Debbie was in the quad a minute ago",Oz told them.

"Alright Faith you and I team. Willow stick with Buffy",Giles told them.

"And I'll.. go lock myself in the cage",Oz said as they were leaving.

Buffy and Willow found Debbie in the locker room trying to cover up her black eye.

"It's tricky covering a fresh shiner like that. You know what works?",Buffy asked her.

"What",Debbie asked her.

"Don't get hit. What's going on Debbie. I'll bet the farm you know",Buffy told Debbie intensly.

"You're wrong. I don't know anything",Debbie told obviously lieing to protect her boyfriend.

"Normally I would say you wanna play have a secret fine. But people are dying here",Buffy said seriously.

"It's not his fault I mean he's not himself when he gets like this",Debbie told Buffy trying to defend her boyfriend's actions.

"You mean Pete",Buffy asked trying to get her to talk more.

"It's me. I make him crazy he just does what he does because he loves me too much",Debbie told Buffy.

"But weren't and Jeff murdered by an animal",Willow asked confused.

"Pete's not like other guys is he Debbie",Buffy asked already knowing the answer.

"I've gotta go",Debbie said and started to leave.

"You have to talk to us. We can't help us you untill you do",Buffy told her worried about what Pete might do.

Debbie turned around to look at Buffy.

"I didn't ask for your help",Debbie told her but Buffy knew she wanted help.

"When are you going to if Pete kills you it'll pretty much be too late",Willow told Debbie trying to reason with her.

"Debbie we're running out of time",Buffy asked trying to get her to tell her something.

"Where can I find him",Buffy asked Debbie referring toPete.

"I don't know",Debbie said lying to Buffy.

"You're lying",Buffy told her sternly.

"What if I am? What are you going to do about it",Debbie asked.

"Wrong question",Willow told her not referring to Buff's slayer powers.

Buffy pushed her towards a mirror and forces her to look at herself.

"Look at yourself. Why are you protecting him?Anybody who really loved you wouldn't do this to you",Buffy told her trying to get Debbie to realize what Pete was doing wasn't out of love. "Would they take him somplace",Debbie asked worried what would happen if she told the truth.

"Probably",Buffy said not wanting to sugar coat it.

"I could never do that to him. I'm his everything",Debbie told them trying to get them to understand.

"Great so while you two live out your"Grim" fairytale two people are dead. Who's gonna be next?",Buffy asked her.

Debbie went over and sat on a bench and started to rock back and forth in a fetal postion.

"He does love me, He does love me",Debbie continued to say while Buffy and Willow talked.

"This is useless we have togo. I have to find Pete",Buffy told Willow. Buffy was getting anxious and impatient.

Willow walked over to Debbie.

"Come on",Willow told her trying to get her to get up so they could find Pete.

"I think we broke her",Willow told Buffy.

"I think she was broken before this",Buffy said feeling sorry for Debbie.

Buffy, Willow and Debbie left the room and just started down the hallway to the libary when Buffy turned a werewolf. Willow and Debbie screamed and Giles and Faith came running down the other hallway. Giles looked around for Buffy.

"Where is Buffy",Giles asked worried.

Werewolf Buffy was running toward the libary.

"That is Buffy",Willow said shocked and confused at the fact that her bestfriend was now a werewolf.

They all ran after werewolf Buffy . They stopped to see that werewolf Oz was attacking Pete. Just as they were going to go after werewolf Buffy she jumped ontop of Pete along with werewolf Oz and she bit him. The others were staring at the three fighting. Giles looked at the slayer and girl who had become like a daughter to him who was now a werewolf. Giles knew that when this was over he would get his answers.

"Get the dart gun",Giles yelled to Faith.

Faith climbed over the counter and grabbed the dart gun. She starts to aim it at Pete,Oz and Buffy and Debbie pushes Faith's arm just as she pulls the trigger.

"Pete watch out",Debbie told him.

So she accidently shot Giles.

"Sorry G",Faith said.

"Right. Bloody priceless",Giles said as he fell into a small table by his office door.

Buffy and Oz (the werewolf versions) ran out of the libary and almost ran over Xander.

"What's going on?",Xander asked the others completely clueless.

"Buffy's a werewolf",Willow told him as Faith handed her the dart gun.

"You get the wolves", Faith told them before running up to Pete and attacking him with her fists.

Faith and Pete started to go towards the bookcases. Pete tried to throw the bookcase ontop but she got out of their before he could. Then Pete and Faith ran out of the hallway and out down the hallway and Pete went out of a window before Faith could catch up with him. Meanwhile Oz and Buffy were running down the hallway and sticking very close to each other. This did not go unnoticed by Willow.

"Hey Will why are the getting all lady and the tramp with each other",Xander asked her while running after the werewolves.

"I dont't know maybe she's sticking to Oz to because he's familar",Willow said lying.

She had her theories and the truth was that wasn't one of them. Oz and Buffy being so close even in werewolf form gave her the wiggins. She knew that her bestfriend would never go after her boyfriend but Buffy wasn't in control here the monster was and the monster seemed to like oz. They were heading by the soda machines when Buffy jumped ontop of Willow and Oz kept running. Willow dropped the gun when Buffy jumped ontop of her. Xander picked up the gun and shot Buffy.

"Sorry Buff",Xander said and took off after Oz.

Willow stood by the tranqualized Buffy werewolf with sympathy. Xander shot Oz as he was turning the corner. They dragged Oz and Buffy into the cage and locked the door. Willow and Xander stood outside the cage looking at the two werewolves. Faith walked in looking like her head hit a doorknob.

"Pete",Willow asked.

"Dead as well as blondie. Psycho boyfriend killed her",Faith told them.

Giles came out of his office limping.

"How's Buffy",Giles asked the others.

"In the cage with Oz",Willow said.

Faith walked over by Xander and whispered"Do you think they're gonna get pelvic".

"No way Buffy wouldn't do that to Will",Xander said thinking she was talking about the human version.

"I mean the werewlof version of B",Faith asked.

"Oh. I don't know. I hope not it would crush Will. Even if they were werewolves",Xander said.

"I wonder how B got like this",Faith asked.

"I'm afraid all the questions we need answers to can only be answered by Buffy",Giles said.

Willow , Xander and Faith went home. Willow picked up some clothes for Buffy in the morning. When morning came Buffy woke up and noticed she was in the libary cage naked next to Oz. she added it all up and figured it out.

"I'm a werewolf?",Buffy asked.

She got up and found her clothing on top of the file cabinet. In the middle of getting dressed Oz woke up.

"Hey",Oz said confused.

"Hey. Morning",Buffy said.

"It turns out I'm a werewolf". Oz nodded.

"OK",Oz said.

After Buffy finished She left Oz to get dressed. She walked out of the cage to find Giles sitting in a chair drinking tea outside the cage.

"Morning",Buffy said.

"I take it you figured it out by now",Giles said.

"Yeah I'm a werewolf. I figured something was wrong but this is wow",Buffy said.

Willow, Xander and Cordy c ame rushing in at that point.

"Buffy",Willow said.

"You all know?",Buffy asked.

"About you being a murdering animal yeah",Cordy said boldly.

Oz walked out from the cage and went over by Willow but smiled at Buffy who smiled back.

"So are you all gonna stare at me uncomfotably or are you going ask",Buffy said.

"Well since you brought it up",Xander said.

"I can't really tell you how because I don't remember getting bit. All I do remember is I had just finished patrolling with Faith and I was gonna do a quick sweep up by the forest and I was on my way there when I blacked out and woke up with a bite mark on my arm. I didn't think anything of i t at the time but now it's like I'm nancy drewing it",Buffy said.

Willow went over to her friend and and hugged her.

Then the others joined in.

"So we're all okay",Buffy said.

"As long as you don't eat me",Xander said.

They all were walking in the quad.

"It's all over school what happend with Debbie and Pete. Except for the Pete was a monster part",Willow told them.

"Yeah a freshmen told me that Pete had 8 iced mochas and just lost it",Oz told them.

"That's better than the estrogen theory. I heard he took all of his mother's birth control pills",Buffy told them.

"He didn't? Pete was a monster? Where have I been?",Cordy asked.

"In your special place Cor which is why I adore you", Xander said and put his arm around her.

"So what's gonna happen when you turn it to werewolf how many times a month",Xander asked.

"I don't really know",Bvffy said sadly.

"Well back to Pete. What's the true story what happend ",Cordy asked wanting to know.

"We got ahold of Pete's lab books and stuff and was a jekyll/hyde deal. He was afraid Debbie was going to leave him so he mixed this potion to become super mas macho",Willow told her. "The only thing was after a while he didn't need the potion to turn into a bad guy. Did it just fine on his own."

"So it was like a real killing he wasn't under the influence of anything?",Cordy asked.

"Just himself",Buffy said. Buffy saw Scott sitting by himself sadly.

"Uh I'll see you guys later", she said and went over by Scott.

"I don't know what to say that's not going to sound obvious or stupid",Buffy said.

"I've been friends with them both since before we started school",Scott sadly. Buffy laced her fingers into his.

"Is there anything I can do",Buffy asked knowing the answer.

"Thanks I'm gonna be okay",Scott said. "It's just you never really know what's going on inside someday do you? You think if you care about them but you never really do".


	2. author's note

Sorry I haven't updated my story. I had to get my computer fixed and I haven't had my computer in like a month. I will upload the new chapter within this week or next week.


	3. Homecoming

Chapter Two: Homecomming

Xander, Willow, Oz, Buffy and Cordy were sitting by the bar. Buffy was sorta in her own world. She wouldn't admit this to anyone;but ever since she became a werewolf she had been drawn to Oz and couldn't help thinking about him. Oz was sitting by Willow and drawing on a napkin and every once in a while he would glance at Buffy but not enough that anyone would notice.

"I think we should get a limo",Cordelia said talking about homecomming.

"A limo? A big expensive limo?",Xander asked.

"That sounds like fun and it's our last homecomming dance so maybe we should make a big deal of it",Willow suggested.

"You wanna talk fun? Public bus you meet the funnest people back me up here Oz",Xander said while Cordy looked at him.

"Well if it's a dollar issue we could all take my van",Oz told them.

"Van? The homecomming queen doesn't go to the dance in a van. Use your head",Cordy told Oz.

"Well technically you haven't been elected yet",Xander said but quickly changed his tune when Cordy glared at him. "Although you certainly without a doubt will be. Who else likes a limo?" "A private limo. It is pretty cuddlesome", Willow said while snugging up to Oz.

Buffy felt a tinge of jealousy of her best friend. She didn't know why she had these fellings for her bestfriend's boyfiend.

"And if we split the cost."

"Umm maybe. You know if I go in all",Buffy said unsure if she was going to homecomming.

Scott didn't ask her and she wasn't going to push the realtionship and ask him. So odds were she probably wasn't going to go.

"Why wouldn't you go? You already have your tickets unless you don't have a da-",Willow was interupted by Scott comming over by them. "ay or two to think about should all think about it",Willow said.

"What's going on here?Did Scott not ask her to the homecomming dance yet",Cordy boldly asked.

"Thanks Cordelia humiliation is really great for my color",Buffy said embarassed.

Oz couldn't help but wonder why Buffy was going out with this guy. He kept looking at her.

"Oh umm well no I just assumed you would think it's corny or something. But I'm in-I mean if you want to",Scott asked her nervously.

Buffy looked up at him and said "I do if you want to."

"The judges will accept that as a yes",Oz said joking because he really was jealous of Scott.

"Do you want me to get you another drink?",Scott asked.

"Umm no actually I'm a little tired. I'm gonna call it a night. But I'm excited about the dance though",Buffy told him.

"me too",he told her and he leaned in and kissed her.

Then she left for home. The next day Buffy was on her way to meet Willow when she saw Scott.

"Scott",Buffy said.

"Buffy. Hi.. uh we need to talk",Scott told her and the alarms were going off in Buffy's head but before she could do anything.

"I don't think we should see each other anymore",Buffy looked shocked but not disappointed.

She didn't know why this was happening to her now.

"You don't. When did this happen? Where wasI?",Bufffy asked.

"Buffy it's just before we were going out you seemed so full of life like a force of nature. Now you just seem distracted all the time",Scott told her explaining his reason for dumping her days before the dance.

"I'm getting better honest in fact from here on you are gonna see a drastic distraction reduction "Drastic distraction reduction" try saying that ten times fast",Buffy said trying to defend her actions lately.

"I'm really sorry",Scott told her as walked away leaving Buffy standing there sad or so he thought.

Buffy couldn't help but be somewhat happy. She didn't know why but she knew it had something to do with her ongoing attraction to Oz. It could have something to do with the fact that they were both werewolves. Well, that's what she kept telling herself anyway. Buffy walked to the libary thinking about Oz the whole way there.

Buffy stopped by the locker room to change. Faith was already in the libary waiting.

"Hey B, ready to kick some ass",Faith asked her.

"Sure",Buffy said calmly but in actuality she had some pent up frustration.

Faith put on the punching gloves and Buffy started swinging. Eventually they started talking about Scott. It started to make her mad and she punch one last time with all her strength into Faith's glove. Faith shook her hand in pain.

"Man!Guys should break up with you more often",Faith told her.

"Gee, thankyou",Buffy told her sarcastically.

Buffy and Faith walked over to the table. Faith got up and sat on the table while Buffy leaned up against it.

"I mean it you really got some quality rage going, really gives you an edge",Faith told her.

"Edge-girl just what I always wanted to be",Buffy said sarcastically.

"Well screw him all right?You move on and you party heavily and you'll be fine. You're still going to that dance right?",Faith asked. "

Maybe",Buffy told her thinking about Oz and Willow being at the dance together.

"You got the tix already, why don't we go together",Faith asked her.

"I don't know about that",Buffy said.

"Come on we'll just find a couple of studs. We'll use'em and discard 'em. Always fun",Faith told her nonchalently.

Buffy didn't understand how Faith could be so nonchalent about guys.

"Okay I'm in not the stud using part though, or probably not",Buffy told her thinking about Oz.

A couple hours later Buffy was walking down the hallway when Miss Morgan came down the stairs.

"Miss Moran",Buffy trailed after her. "Hi, I'm so glad I ran into you. umm I had this incident last year of getting kicked out of school, and I'm back now, though. I've done all of my make-up tests. But I still need one written recommendation from a teacher. I think the word principal Snyder used was "glowing". To put in my file so I can prove I belong here",Buffy explained to Miss Moran.

"And You are",Miss Moran said finally speaking.

"Buffy. B-Buffy Summers. Third row. I sat by the class- Contemporary American Heroes from Amelia Earhart to Maya Angelou. The class that changed my life",Buffy said trying to get Miss Moran to remember her.

"Were you absent a lot,umm-",Miss Moran said forgeting Buffy's name she spoke not 1 minute ago.

"Buffy",Buffy told her.

Then for the next 5 minutes she had to listen to Miss Moran Politely but unsuccessfully try to remenber her and then politely decline her offer. She couldn't believe that her favorite teacher didn't remember her. She was devestated. She knew she missed a lot of school. But this was ridiculous.

She went down to the cafeteria to find her friends. Because it was lunchtime and generally where you would find people not in class is the cafetria. So she went down there and she found Willoe,Oz and Xander sitting at a table while Cordelia was campaining for homecomming queen. Buffy went and sat by them while they ate their lunch. Buffy basically sat in silience until she suddenly started talking about what happened.

"I can't believe it. My favorite teacher and she didn't even remember who I was. I'm like a non-person. Am I invisible?Can you see me",Buffy said waving her hand in front of Oz.

She thought that being invisible wouldn't even be the worst of her problems. There were so many things she had to deal with the worst being that she was kinda of having feelings for her bestfriend's boyfriend who happened to be a werewolf. She knew the attraction had to be because she was a werewolf. But she wasn't doing any better on getting rid of the attraction. She suddenly realized how amazing Oz's eyes were and- she had to stop thinking about him.

"Big as life",Oz told her.

"At Hemery , I was prom princess, I was fiesta queen, I was on the cheerleading squad. The yearbook was, like, a story of me. Now it's senior year, and I'm going to be one crappy picture on 1/8 of one crappy page",Buffy started ranting.

"Uh, no. Actually, you're not",Xander pointed out.

"What do you mean",Buffy asked him wondering what he was talking about.

"Well, you missed the picture-taking",Xander explained to her.

"When?Why?",Buffy asked wondering why noone told her.

"We did them yesterday"Oz told her feeling sorry for her. She was not having a good day.

"Didn't Cordelia tell you",Willow asked her.

Buffy suddenly saw red. She marched over to where Cordelia was talking to someone about homecomming queen. Buffy wondered how someone could be so selfish and self-absorbed. She was not having a good day and Cordelia just made it worse.

"Buffy ,you look so cute in that outfit".Cordelia said trying to get her to vote for her.

"I'm not voting for you",Buffy told her.

Cordelia cut her off and said, "then make it snappy."

"How come you didn't tell me that they were doing the yearbook pictures",Buffy said obviously annoyed and and upset.

"Didn't I? Oh, I guess I forgot. What's the big",Cordelia said nonchalently and not caring that Buffy wouldn't be in the yearbook.

"It's just...",Buffy sighed obviously very annoyed with Cordelia. "You could've thought about somebody else for thirty seconds that's all."

"Hey, I am under **a lot** of pressure",Cordelia said seriously.

"Oh,yeah campaigning. Rough gig",Buffy said sarcastically.

"What would you know about it? Just because you were guacamole queen when you were three doesn't mean you understand how this works",Cordelia said not knowing that she used to be exactly like Cordelia.

"Obviously it involves handing out lame flyers".Buffy told Cordelia harshly.

"No. It involves being a part of the school and having actual friends",Cordelia said harshly.

Buffy stood there offended and glared at Cordelia.

"Now, if it was about monsters, blood and innards, then you'd be a shoo-in. I'd like to see **you **try and win the crown",Cordelia said obviously joking.

"You would?",Buffy asked seriously.

Cordelia huffs and walks around Buffy to leave. She couldn't help but to think that she should take Cordelia up on her offer and take Queen C down a few notches.

"Then you will",Buffy said making Cordelia turn back around and face Buffy.

"What does that mean",Cordelia asked her annoyed that Buffy was wasting her time.

Buffy turned around to face her. Buffy knew she ticked Cordelia off and that was what she wanted. She wanted Cordelia to be afraid that she entered the competition. But to be honest Cordelia wasn't the only reason she was doing this she just pushed her to it. Buffy wanted to prove to everybody that she could do this and get her mind off Oz. She shouldn't be thinking about her bestfriends boyfriend and she thought that if she was busy campaigning that she wouldn't think of Oz.

"I'm gonna show you how it's done. I'm gonna run for homecoming Queen, and I'm going to win",Buffy said seriously.

"This is starting to be sad",Cordelia told Buffy not even a little convinved that she could win.

"Sorry, Cordy, but you have no idea who you're messing with",Buffy said going head to head with Cordelia.

"What?The slayer",Cordelia said not afraid that she was going to run for homecoming queen.

"I'm not talking about the slayer. I'm talking about Buffy. You've awakened the prom queen within. And that crown is going to be mine",Buffy said harshly.

Buffy and Cordelia walked away from each other. Well they more like stomped away. Xander,Willow and Oz were not liking this idea at all this could only mean triouble for all of them.

The next day Buffy was on a campaigning warpath. She had recruted Xander,Willow and Oz as her campaign advisors. The libary had turned into Buffy's war room.

Buffy had spent all night comming up with her competition white board. The white board had pictures of Holly, Cordelia and Michelle and it had their levels of popularity as well as their strengths and weaknesses on it.

"A campaign is like a war. It's won or lost in the trenches",Buffy said walking to her competition board.

"Holly,Michelle, and our real competition, Cordelia, all have big head starts",Buffy said pointing the people on her board.

"Speaking of big heads, if I had a watermellon as big as Cordelia's then I'd be rich"Buffy said joking and smiling at the others who are fidgeting and looking like they wanna get out of there.

"Waits for laugh..."Buffy said waiting for someone to laugh.

After a few moments she gives up and moves on.

"Okay, you're right. Making fun of the competition only makes me seem petty. Now, this is just like any other popularity contest. I've done this before. Only difference being this time, I'm not actually popular. Although,I'm not exactly unpopular . A lot of people came to my welcome home party", Buffy said enthusastically. \

"But, they were killed by zombies",Willow reminded her.

"Good point",Buffy said pointing at her. "Okay, here's the plan. Willow, I need you to make a database. See who's for us, who's on the fence and where our real crisis areas are. Oz, you take the fringe: muscians, those not normally inclined to vote. Xander, what...", Buffy said but got cut off when Cordelia walked in the libary and she crosses her arms wondering what's going on.

Buffy thought it would kill her to be a little nice to her.

"Uh,Cordelia...Okay, look. I know this is a little awkward, but I don't see any reason why we all can't get along during this campaign time. I mean we're....almost friends, and....we are all riding in one limo",Buffy said trying to make some peace with Cordelia while she nodds at her.

"Yeah, great. Willow how's that database comming ?",Cordelia said not caring about anything Buffy just said.

"Uh, it's... Just about done",Willow said looking down in shame.

"Xander?",Cordelia asked insistently.

Xander turns his head around to face her "I got your new flyers."

"Let's get cracking",Cordelia told the three.

Buffy looks at them all betrayed. She wonders why they are choosing Cordelia over slips off the table and goes over to Buffy.

"She's my girlfriend",Buffy watched him walk over to Cordelia.

Willow then gets up from her spot and walks over to Buffy.

"It's just that... she needs it so much more than you",Willow said shrugging and walking over to Cordelia and Xander.

Oz then followed Willow and stopped at Buffy.

"As Willow goes, so goes my nation. But,good luck",Oz said smiling at her.

Oz goes to join the others who are hanging their heads in embarrassement and shame who were hiding behind Cordy. Cordy was standing proudly with her arms crossed.

"Thanks for what you said, Buffy, I think we're getting along great don't you",Cordelia said sarcastically before leaving.

The rest of her so-called friends followed her.

Buffy felt betrayed and abandoned. At least Oz had wished her good luck. Buffy didn't know it of course but Xander and Willow had selfish reasons for helping Cordelia. Noone knew that last night while trying on formal the two kissed and were now feeling guilty so they felt they had to help Cordelia. But Buffy didn't know that and in a result she felt betrayed and abandoned.

Buffy walked over to the table to get her apple juice and she had noticed Giles had walked out of his office.

"Seems like a lot of fuss for...one little title",Giles said not really seeing what the big deal was.

"Well, you know, it's no fun if you don't try your best",Buffy said before taking a drink of her apple juice.

"As long as fun is still in the mix",Giles told her.

"Sure! It's not like anyone takes it that seriously",Buffy said smiling before the apple juice broke in her hand from Buffy holding it with too much pressure.

Buffy flashes Giles an innocent smile.

Buffy left the libary to start the campaign war. Cordelia was already out there talking to a small group of people who she had handed her flyer to. Buffy then started chatting up her own group and how she was running for homecomming queen. neither girl could help but look over their shoulder at the other girl.

Buffy then went to post campaign flyers. She went up to the bulletin board that had Holly,Michelle and Cordelia on it and put her much bigger flyer over Cordelia's. Then she walks and goes down the stairs and fake falls and her flyers fall down. Luckily Scott sees that and goes to help her pick them up.

"Sorry",Buffy said.

"Here".Scott said and handed her the flyers.

They both stand back up from kneeling on the ground and picking up flyers.

"I heard you were doing this",Scott said while looking at one of the flyers.

"Uh...'s just something to pass the time",Buffy said being modest."It's silly , really."

"I don't think so. For what it's worth you have my vote",Scott told her.

"No, I don't want you to feel.......Thank you",Buffy smiles at him.

Scott nods his head back at her and the continues down the hallway.

Scott voting for her was the least he could do after dumping her days before the homecoming dance; which he said he would go with her to. Sympathy vote was one of her smarter plans for beating Cordelia.

Buffy pulled out her campaign notebook. She open the book to a page of names among them was Scott's. She crossed his name off the list. The list was made up of people she could get to vote for her.

She then closes it and sees another boy comming and throws the flyers on the ground faking like it was an accident. Of course the knelt to help her pick them up.

A little while later Buffy is standing in the hall way the basketball players in a team jacket which they have given her. She was now making small talk with them.

Thn after that she went to the Quad where Holly was going up to a boy about to give him a brownie when Buffy came up and gave him a huge choclate cupcake.

Then she walks over to these other two people and gives them two chocalate cupcakes and walks off to put a poster up on a colmn. Then Cordelia goes up to the two people and she gives them baskets of choclate and sweets and she throws the cupcakes out. Cordelia walks by Buffy and Smiles smugly at her before walking away.

Buffy walks down the hallway and sees Willow looking at the campaign flyers and walks up to her.

"Hey",Buffy said.

"Hi! How are you?You good?You look good. Anything new?Hey, did I mention you look good",Willow said jumpily.

"Willow, it's okay that you're helping Cordelia. We're best friends. I'm not going to hold that against you",Buffy told her.

"No, I'm not a friend. I'm a rapid dog who should be shot!But there's forces at work! Dark, incomprehensible forces",Willow whined.

"And I'm sure they're more important than all we've been through together,or...the number of times that I've saved your life",Buffy said trying to guilt her into helping her.

"What do want",Willow said looking at her imploringly.

"Fifteen minutes alone on your computer with Cordelia's database",Buffy asked bluntly.

"'Kay",Willow said squeakily.

Willow slide her backpack from her shoulder and sat down at the nearby table.

"Good!Oh!",Buffy said as she sat by Buffy. "So,I spoke to the limo people, we're all set. They'll pick up Faith, then me, then swing by and get you guys. Now, what's your database tell you about **my **weaknesses."

After Buffy read Willow's database she went to continue her campaign. So she went to talk to Jonathan and she gave him a choclate cupcake as they walked down the hallway together.

"You know, Jonathan, I've always felt a special bond between you and me",Buffy said trying to get Jonathan to vote for her.

"Cordelia gave me six bucks. That buys a **whole **lotta cupcakes",Jonathan said with his mouth full.

Buffy smiled at Jonathan and then walked down another hallway. Cordelia was talking to some geek about the vulcan death grip. She walked up to her and crossed her arms.

"So you really are giving away money, huh?",Buffy asked her.

Cordelia turned around to face her.

"Is that any more tacky than your faux 'I'm shy but deep' campaign posters?",Cordelia asked.

"Yes",Buffy said boldly.

"This whole trying to be like me really isn't funny anymore",Cordelia told her.

Buffy was offended by that. Why would anyone want to be like Cordelia especially her.

"I was **never **trying to be like you, and when was it funny ?",Buffy said harshly.

"I don't see why your pathetic need to recapture your glory days give you the right to splinter my vote",Cordelia boldly ranted about something she knew nothing about.

"How can you think it's okay to talk to people like this?Do You have parents",Buffy asked not believing what Cordelia was saying.

" of them ....Unlike some people",Cordelia said harshly.

Buffy is officially dumbfounded by what is comming out of Cordelia's mouth. She had to be the most selfish person she knew.

"Your brain isn't even connected to your mouth, is it?",Buffy asked flabbergasted.

Xander and Willow walked up behind Cordelia. where the entire hallway was watching the two scream at each other.

"Why don't you do us both a favor and stay out of my way?",Cordelia threatened.

Cordelia starts to walk past her when she puts her hand on Buffy's shoulder to push her out of the way. But Buffy wasn't the type to let people like Cordelia chase push her around. Buffy grabbed Cordelia's hand and pulled it off her.

"Don't **ever **do that again",Buffy said threateningly.

Cordelia jerked her hand away.

"You're sick, you know that?",Cordelia asked her.

Xander took Cordelia by the arms from behind to prevent her from doing something she might regret later.

"Okay, let's not say something we'll, uh , regret later...",Xander said trying to prevent the two girls from furthering their fight.

"You crazy freak",Cordelia yelled at Buffy.

"Vapid whore!",Buffy shouted back.

"....Like that!",Xander said.

Xander quickly pulled Cordelia away from Buffy before the fight gets any worse than it already is.

"What did you call me?!",Cordelia said incensed.

Xander lead Cordelia down the hall. Willow walked up to Buffy looking extremely worried.

"This is just the that's ever ",Willow said as Buffy left the opposite way Cordelia and Xander went.

Cordelia and Buffy stayed away from each other the rest of the day.

That night after spending several hours getting ready for the dance. Fortunately her mom was working tonight so no embarassing pictures. She finally decided to make her way downstairs in bright red spaghetti strap dress with matching shoes and of course a purse. Buffy made her way outside and locked the door and went to the limo. The driver held the door open for her and she got in. She noticed Cordelia sitting on her other side and wondered what was going on.

"What's going on here?Where's Faith?",Buffy asked wanting not wanting to know what was going on.

Cordelia handed her the card that was sitting on the seat. Buffy decided to open it.

"Dear Cordelia and Buffy

We won't be riding to the dance with you.

We want you to work out your problems

because our friendships are more important

than who wins Homecoming Queen.

Your friends.

P.S. The limo was not cheap. Work it out",Buffy read.

Buffy set the card back down on the seat.

Buffy looked around and she saw the two corsage boxes. One was empty and one had very beautiful flower corsage in it.

"They bought us corsages?",Buffy asked wondering why they would do that.

"I took the orchid",Cordelia told her boldly.

"Okay",Buffy said and rolled her eyes.

A few minutes later they started fighting.

"I don't see what the big deal is",Cordelia said.

"I'm not making a big deal. You wanted the orchid,you got the orchid,"Buffy said acting like she didn't care.

"It goes with my complexion better",Cordelia told her.

"It does have that sallow tint,"Buffy said rudely.

Then the limo came to a stop.

"Finally we're here",Buffy said.

The driver got out of the car and ran off. Buffy and Cordelia could hear the looked at Cordelia with concern. She had no idea what was going on and she was now worried. Buffy and Cordelia got out of the limo and found themselves in the middle of the woods.

"What is this?",Cordelia asked looking around.

"Okay ,guys,we've had enough of your little game",Cordelia shouted loudly.

Buffy sees a t.v. and vcr sitting on a rock. She wonders whose wierd idea this is. She knows this can't be from her friends.

"What's massively wrong with this picture ?",Buffy asked.

The two walked up to the t.v. and the vcr. The vcr had a sign on it that said press play. Trick appeared on the screen.

"Hello, ladies. Welcome to Slayerfest '98",Trick said.

Both Cordelia and Buffy are staring at the screen in disbelief. Neither can believe this is happening.

"What is slayerfest, you ask? Well, as in most of life, there's the hunters and the hunted. Can you guess where two fall? From the begining of this tape, you have exactly thirty seconds-- no that's seventeen now--to run for your lives",Trick said smiling.

Both are still staring at the screen.

"Faith, Buffy. Have a nice death",Trick continued before he went off the screen and the words Slayerfest appeared on the screen.

Buffy was thinking about their situation. About how many creatures could be after them and about how close they could be.

"Hello! How stupid are you people?She's a slayer. I'm a Homecoming Queen",Cordy shouted at the woods.

Buffy looked at Cordelia. How could she be so stupid. If they weren't going to find them before they definitely were going to now.

They heard gunshots in the distance. Cordelia looked worried. Then the t.v. exploded. Cordelia and Buffy ran off and they had no idea if they were going to make it out of this alive.

Buffy and Cordelia stopped running after awhile and were walking briskly. Cordelia is following Buffy as she scans the forsest as she goes.

"I have an idea. We talk to these people, we explain that I'm not a slayer, and they let me go,"Cordelia told her ranting.

As Buffy ignored Cordelia's comment they slowed down. As Buffy continues walking and scanning she doesn't see the bear trap she is about to walk right into a bear trap.

"Look out!",Cordelia shouted.

Buffy quickly pulled her foot back up. This was one of those times that she was thankful for her Slayer reflexes. The bear trap quickly closed. Buffy figured that if the trap was there then the person who put it there couldn't be far away. She sees Jungle Bob take his aim.

"Get down",Buffy shouted before she pulled Cordelia to the ground with her.

Jungle Bob shoots and misses. Buffy grabbed the trap and threw it at him. It hit him and he stumbled back into another trap that closed on his leg. Buffy hurried over to him to pick up the rifle. Cordelia followed her. Buffy pointed the gun at him.

"That's gotta smart",Buffy said.

He tries to pry open the trap and isn't very successful.

"Now,I can let you out of that, or I can put a bullet in your head. How many are there in this little game, and what are they packing?",Buffy asked Jungle Bob.

He stared at her not willing to give up any information. Buffy decided to pump a fresh round into the chamber. She knew that caused him to change his mind.

"There's me, two Germans with AR-15s and grenade launcher...A yellow-skinned demon with long knives....Vampire couple from Texas named Gorch",Jungle Bob said as he gave up his competition.

"That everybody",Buffy asked knowing he might've left out a person or two on purpose.

"Everybody who's out here. German's are wired. There boss is tracking them on a computer. Now get me out of this!",he shouted.

"Could I just ask you an eensy favor? Could you just tell your friends that I'm not a sl..",Cordelia said before she got cut off by the yellow-skinned demon.

Kulak (yellow-skinned demon) threw the serrated wemons at her and they sliced into the tree. Cordelia screamed. The two then took off leaving Jungle Bob to fend for himself. They stopped when they came to a run-down cabbin. Buffy kicked the door in and she and Cordelia rushed in. Buffy shut the door and barricaded it with a chair. She then walked over to each window and closed the shutters and drew the drapes over them.

"We should be safe in here for awhile. You need to find a weapon,"she told Cordelia.

"Safe? I'm not Safe. I'm gonna die",Cordelia said freaking out.

Buffy walked over to the last window and pulled the drapes to close the shutters but it the shutter comes loose in her hand and falls to the floor.

"Yeah you are if you just stand there",Buffy told her.

Buffy pulls the drapes across to at least block the view and went on to continue to do the other windows.

"I'm never gonna be crowned homecoming Queen. I'm never gonna graduate from high school. I'm never gonna know if it's real between me and Xander, or if it's just...Some temporary insanity that made me think...I loved him. And now I'm never gonna get the chance to tell him",Cordelia sobbed.

Buffy allowed Cordelia to be the center of attention for a couple minutes while she looked at her with sadness and sighed before she walked over to her.

"Yes, you are. We are gonna get outta here, and we are gonna head back to the libary, where Giles and the rest of the weapons live. Then I'm gonna take out the rest of the guys just in time for you to congratulate me on my **sweeping **victory as homecoming queen",Buffy rants as she tries to distract Cordelia.

Buffy went back to the window.

"I know what you're up to. You think if you get me mad enough, I won't be so scared. And, hey !It's working ! Where's a damn weapon",Cordelia shouted.

Cordelia searched around for a weapon while Buffy resumed her surveillance of the window.

"You really love Xander?".Buffy asked surprised.

"Well, he kinda grows on you, like...a chia pet",Cordelia told her.

Buffy thought about it and she didn't know if she insulted or compimented her bestfriend who happened to be Cordelia's boyfriend. You could never tell with Cordelia for now she decided it was a compliment.

Cordelia found a Spatula and brought over to Buffy.

"That's it",Buffy asked knowing that couldn't possibly be the only thing Cordy could find.

"Just this and a telephone",Cordly said stupidly.

"No,this is better for....",Cordelia said before swinging the spatula around stupidly.

"Oh",Cordelia said realizing it might not help much.

Buffy walked over to the phone and dialed the libary waited for someone to answer.

"Giles pick up. Of all the times to have a life now would not be the time",Buffy said.

The phone went to voicemail.

"If you get this message, Giles, get help and get out here...",Buffy said in the phone before it went dead.

"Hello?",Buffy asked knowing the answer.

"What happened",Cordelia asked her afraid of the answer.

"It went dead",Buffy told her.

Cordelia goes over to sit on a cot.

"Why is it every time I go somewhere with you,it always ends in violence and terror?",Cordelia asked sarcastically, but initally blaming Buffy.

"Welcome to my life",Buffy said staring out a window.

"I don't wanna be in your life. I wanna be in my life",Cordelia said selfabosorbed.

"Well there's the door. Please feel free to walk out and liveyour life",Buffy said pointing to the door.\

She walks over to another window and looks out it.

"All I wanted was to be Homecoming Queen",Cordelia told her.

"And, that's all I wanted too Cordelia",Buffy told her.

Buffy looked down at her dress and went back to the window.

"I spent a year's allowance on this dress",Buffy told her.

"I don't even get why you care about homecoming when you're doing stuff like this",Cordelia said.

Buffy turned around to face her.

"Because this is all I couldn't understand. I just thought...Homecoming Queen.I could pick up a yearbook someday and say,I was there. I went to high school, I had friends, and ...For one moment, I got to live in the world. And there'd be proof. Proof that I was choosen for something other than this",Buffy explained to her.

Cordelia nodded respectfully. Buffy raised the rifle.

"Besides....I look cute in a tiara",She said while pumping the rifle.

Cordelia laughed a little at that. Then there was a growl outside the door.

"Do you hear...",Cordelia begins to ask.

Kulak come crashing through the window and immediately grabs Buffy and throws her down on the mattress and pillow on the floor. She drops the rolls out of the way just as he swings his serrated blades, and they slice the pillow instead. Buffy runs to the far wall and she pulls antlers of the wall to use for defense. Kulak swings his blades at Buffy while Cordelia slaps him with her spatula. Buffy blocks the blades with the antlers and shoves the antlers aside and kulak goes down with them.

"Cor, the gun !",Buffy yelled.

Kulak got to his knees and taking a wide swing at Buffy , cutting her slightly and making her fall.

"Ooh",Buffy said as she fell.

Cordelia picks up the rifle on the floor. Kulak stands and tries another swing, but Buffy grabs the end of the rug he's standing and yanks out from under him, making him fall backwards. Cordelia has the gun raised by now and is looking for her target. Kulak stands back up. Cordelia shoots and she misses. She hits a bottle on the shelf.

"Cordelia,the spatula",Buffy told her fearing if Cordy kept shooting she might die.

"Buffy",Cordelia shouted trying to get her attention.

Buffy looks at her and Cordelia tosses her the rifle. She aims it at Kulak as he gets up. He growls at them and starts to come at them. Buffy pulls the trigger but nothing happens. Buffy figures that the chamber is still empty from Cordelia's shot. Buffy raised the rifle above her head to block Kulak's swing. Kulak's embeds itself in the rifle's stock. Buffy twists it around pulling Kulak's arm with it and pinning him down.

Suddenly a grenade went through the window shutter and fell to the floor in front of Buffy and Kulak. They look at each other and let go of the rifle. Buffy grabs Cordelia and she starts to run toward a window with Cordelia in tow. Buffy and Cordy jump through the glass. Once they are outside the cabin they take off like rockets. Behind them the cabin goes up in smoke sending bits of debris flying everywhere and knocking them down. They both look at each other panting.

"We gotta get back to the libary",Buffy told her.

They both get up and start running through the woods heading for the libary. After awhile of running they found Sunnydale high school. They went inside and were walking down a hallway heading for the libary.\

"Jungle Bob and spike-head are down and out. We've lost the Germans twice, but they seem to keep finding we take them out and the Gorches, we can still make homecoming",Buffy told Cordy.

"Those animals!Hunting us down like poor defenseless...well,animals",Cordy said upset.

They walk into the expecting Candy and Lyle Gorch to be there.

"We just need to find Giles....",Buffy said before she came head to head with Candy.

Candy roared at the two before grabbing Buffy's arm and swinging her around. Candy let go. Buffy kept her balance. Candy did a roundhouse kick into Buffy's face. Buffy staggered a little bit. Candy grabbed Buffy by the back of the neck and shoved her into one of the bookcases, breaking several shelves as she fell to the floor. Buffy does a sweep kick knocking Candy's legs out from underneath her. Buffy scrambled to her feet.

"Buffy",Shouted to get her attention.

Cordelia tosses the spatula to Buffy, who grabs it mid-air and turns to face Candy with it. Candy grabs the coat rack as she gets up. Buffy lunges at Candy with the handle of the spatula and impales her on it. Candy shoves the base of the coat rack into her face and makes her stumble back into the walls. She falls over a wastebasket and into a potted tree before falling to the floor unconscious. Candy drops the coat rack and notices the spatula sticking out of her 's face looks of pure terror.

"Candy !",Lyle shouted.

Candy burst into dust.

"Oh, Candy ....",Lyle said sadly.

Lyle heads for an unconscious Buffy. Cordelia calmly heads him off protecting her rival.

"I'm gonna kill both you slayers for this!You hear me?",Lyle shouted at Cordelia.

"I hear you, you redneck moron. You got a dress that goes with that hat",Cordelia said taunting him.

"I'm gonna ....",Lyle said furiously.

"Rip out my innards, play with my eyeballs, boil my brain and eat it for brunch?Listen up, needle-brain. Buffy and I have taken out four of your cronies, not to mention your girlfriend",Cordelia said threateningly.

"WIFE!".Lyle shouted.

"Whatever. The point is, I haven't even broken a sweat. See, in the end, Buffy's just the runner-up. **I'm **the Queen. You get me mad, what do you think I'm gonna do to you?",Cordelia says as she gets in his face and glares at him.

Cordelia raises her eyebrows at him while she awaits his response. Lyle gives her a quick nod.

"Later",Lyle said and cautiously head out the libary.

Giles, who was lying unconcious on the floor the entire time this was happening woke up and was getting off the floor. Cordelia was smiling, impressed with herself. A little while later Buffy woke up and Giles was cleaning the mess left by the Gorches.

"That should teach them to mistake you for a slayer",She told Cordelia.

"Yes,I must admit I do feel partly responsible. I did give your friends tacit approval to make the switch in the limosine",Giles said feeling a little guilty

"Aw,it's okay. It gave Cor and I a chance to spend some quality death time",Buffy told him.

"And we got these free corages",Cordelia said looking at hers.

Buffy pulled hers off to look at it.

"Oh, that's nice. Although I don't recall them mentioning corsages",Giles told them.

That made Buffy a lttle suspicious. Now if Willow,Oz and Xander got them corsages why wouldn't they tell Giles. They could've just forgot but in light of what happened tonight Buffy didn't think so.

"Jungle Bob... said that the Germans were hooked into a computer system",Buffy told them.

Buffy inspected her corsage a little more carefully and found a transmitter.

"And they're hooked into us",Buffy said.

Both Cordelia and Buffy's heads shoot up when they hear a door slam in the hallway.

Cordelia took her corsage off as if it was infected with some virus.

"Oh, god, get rid of these things",Cordelia said giving it to Buffy.

"I need some wet toilet paper ",Buffy told Giles.

"Yeah!That'll help",Cordelia said sarcastically.

After he gives her the toilet paper she sticks it on the cosages and takes of after the Germans. Buffy runs down the hall they are in. She runs to fast for them to shoot. Buffy ducks into a classroom. One of the Germans go into the classroom while the other aims through a wall while listening to the bosses instructions. The German in the classroom is scanning the dark classroom but doesn't see anything. He continues scanning until Buffy gets up from behind a low bookcase. She throws the transmitter covered in wet toilet paper at the German and it sticks on him. He spins around in the direction he was hit from and then they start firing at each other and they die. Buffy gets up from her spot behind the bookcase and looks at the damage that was done. Buffy went back to the libary to get Cordelia so they could get to homecomming and least see who won Homecoming Queen.

When they get to the Bronze they see Devon on stage. They see there friends and start to walk over there.

"They're gonna announce the queen. Where are they? What are they doing?",Willow asked unaware they were walking right to them.

Oz notices the two behind them walking their way to them. Oz was mesmerized by Buffy.

'She looks beautiful even covered in dirt',Oz thought.

The two girls were still dishelved from getting attacked.

"I'm gonna go with mud wrestling",Oz told the others as the two came up to their friends.

"Oh,God. What did you two do to each other",Xander said assuming they attacked one another.

"Long story",Buffy said.

"Got hunted",Cordelia told them.

"Apparently not that long",Buffy said.

Willow looks at the two in disbelief.

"Tell you one thing though: You don't want to mess with Cordelia",Buffy told them.

Xander laughed at that and got a look from Cordelia.

"No",Xander said afraid of what Cordelia might do to him if he didn't say otherwise.

The drom roll got their attention and all eyes were at the stage.

"In this envelope, I hold the name of this year's homecoming queen",Devon said.

Devon says something about and after party before opening the envelope. Buffy was getting impatient.

"After all we've been through tonight, this whole who-gets-to-be-queen capade seems pretty...",Cordelia said trying to appeal to Buffy .

"Damn important",Buffy finished.

"Oh,yeah",Cordelia said doing a 180 from what she was saying before.

"And the winner is...",Devon started.

Devon opens the envelope and checks the name.

"Hey,I believe we have a first for Sunnydale have a tie",Devon said.

Buffy immediately was shocked and happy. She knew it had to be her and Cordelia. Buffy and Cordelia exchanged a smile.

"The winners are Holly Charleston and Michelle Blake!",Devon shouted at the crowd.

Buffy and Cordelia's smiles fade. Michelle and Holly push through them to get to the stage. Buffy couldn't help but want to push them right into the stage. The crowd applauds the two. Buffy and Cordelia are in disbelief. They campaigned harder then those two. They should be the ones up there. Devon switches holding it over each girl's head. Michelle then steps up to the mike.

"I'm just so honored",Michelles says giggling.

Buffy and Cordelia exchange a look and roll their eyes and they turn to leave.

"I can't believe it! I mean, that you would pick me....or us......out of every girl in the whole school! It's just .....it's so wonderful",Michelle continued.

Cordelia rolls her eyes as the two runner-ups leave.

"I prpmised myself that I'm not gonna cry......",Michelle said fake crying.

That made Buffy want to go over and take that crown and slap her. She wanted to. Really wanted to. But she didn't.

AN:Sorry it took so long. I had a lot of things going on. I promise the next one won't take this long. Thanks for the awesome feedback you guys. I just opened my email and wow. Thank you and I hope it continues. I would also appreciate any ideas you have for the upcomming chapters.


	4. Band Candy

Chapter three: Band Candy

AN: Thanks for waiting so long guys I just got side tracked and then I had some eyeproblems . Anyway, thanks for all the support guys and all the feedback. Here's a question for you guys who can tell me how I came up with the title of the fanfiction?

Buffy was sitting on a blanket in the graveyard. Giles was sitting on a nearby gravestone with a book opened.

" 'And on that tragic day, an era came to it's inevitable end.' That's all there is. Are you ready ?",Giles asked reading from the book.

"Hit me",Buffy said ready to go.

"Which of the following best expresses the the theme of the passage? A) violence breeds violence, B) All things must end, C)...",Giles askes her.

Buffy looked down at her answer sheet and filled in an answer bubble.

"I'm going with B. We haven't had a B in forever",Buffy told him.

"This is the S.A.T.s, Buffy not pay attention. A low score could seriously harm your chances of getting into college",Giles told her.

"Gee, thanks. That takes the presssure right off",Buffy said sarcastically.

Truth be told she was going to be surprised if she even got into college. It wasn't like she was stupid or anything it was just that Saving the world took presidence over school. Which meant that she didn't have the greatest grades. So she didn't know why she was even doing this and top of that she just wanted the test to be over.

"This isn't meant to be easy, you know. It's a rite of passage",Giles told her seriously.

"Is it too late to join a tribe where they just pierce something or cut something off ?",Buffy asked Giles not really being serious but the S.A.T.s were very hard and hurting her brain.

"Buffy, please concentrate",Giles told her seriously.

Buffy rolled her eyes at him. Buffy then got up when she saw the vampire behind Giles.

"Roll",Buffy told him

"What? Huh!",Giles said confused.

Buffy ran towards the vampire and Giles ducked out of the way. Buffy kicked the vampire and then rolled him. The vampire got up and she started throwing punches which he blocked. The vampire threw punches and Buffy quickly ducked them. Then she punched him one more time before staking him with her no.2 pencil; which she broke.

"Hmm. I broke my number two pencil. We'll have to do this again sometime",Buffy said as she was about to leave thinking that since her no.2 pencil broke the test was over.

Giles held out a spare no. 2 pencil.

"C) all systems turn toward chaos",Giles said as Buffy took the pencil he held out and Buffy threw the other one at him.

Buffy sat back down cross-legged on the blanket and picked up her booklet and notebook.

"I just know that us and the undead are the only people in Sunnydale working this late",Buffy said pouting at giles waiting for him to continue reading.

The next day at school Buffy was walking down the stairs with Oz and Willow.

"And then I was being chased by an improperly filled bubble screaming, 'none of the above!'",Buffy told the two explaing about her dream.

"Wow. I hope that it wasn't one of your prophecy dreams",Willow told her.

Buffy looked at her like 'are you kidding me'.

"Probably not ",Willow said when she saw the look Buffy was giving her.

"Hey, you know I took it last year. I could help you get ready. There's this whole trick to antonyms,but...this isn't the place",Oz told Buffy.

Oz had been looking for any excuse to spend with Buffy since homecoming. But not so much that anyone would notice.

"Oz is the highest-scoring person ever to fail to graduate",Willow said proudly.

"Isn't she cute when she's proud",Buffy asked Oz even though she was jealous of her bestfriend.

Willow got to be the proud girlfriend of the boy she was begining to think she was really starting to have strong feelings for.

"She's always cute",Oz told her even though it wasn't the truth.

Yes he did think Willow was cute. But,he thought Buffy was beautiful. He couldn't help but think about homecoming. She was so beautiful that night. Even though she was covered in mud. As the three continued to walk Xander and Cordelia came out from the hallway behind them and started walking behind them.

"We could work on it tonight",Oz suggested.

"Work on what tonight?",Xander asked them wanting to be kept in the loop.

"Oh,god. Are we killing something again?",Cordelia said not thrilled at the aspect of killing another demon.

"Only my carefree spirit",Buffy told her as to stop her worrying.

"Buffy S.A.T prep",Oz told the other two.

"Oz is helping. He's the highest-scoring-",Willow said smiling proudly before Cordelia interrupted her.

Buffy was also smiling. She was also secretly proud of not that he would ever know it.

"We know. We did the impressed thing already",Cordelia told her.

Willow frowned at her.

"I hate that they make us take that thing. It's totally fascist, and personally, I think it, uh, discriminates against the uninformed",Xander told them.

"Actually , I'm looking forward to it. I do well on standardized tests",Cordelia told them.

Everyone gave her a look.

"What? I can't have layers?",she asked them.

They walked into the hallway that led to the cafeteria.

"So,Buff, study tonight?",Willow asked her.

"Uh yes on the studying, no on tonight. I'm putting in mom time. She's been drastic ever since I got back, and Giles is even worse. I'm supervised 24-7",she explained why she couldn't study .

The group turned into the cafeteria.

"It's like being in the _Real World _house only real",Buffy continued.

"Hmm. Ooh , candy bars - lots of 'em",Willow said as they walked up the table in the middle of the cafeteria.

The table was coverd with milk choclate fundraiser candy bars. Other students were taking boxes. At the front of the helm was Principal Snyder who was handing them out for people to sell.

"Principal Snyder, thank you! You weren't visited by the ghost of Christmaspast, by any chance?",Xander asked him while taking the box Snyder was holding.

"It's band candy",Principal Snyder told them seriously.

"Let's hear for the band, huh? Very generous",Buffy said to Snyder jokingly.

Meanwhile the rest of the group is taking boxes.

"You will sell it to raise money for the marching band. They need new uniforms",Snyder told them.

"Yeah, those tall ,fuzzy hats ain't cheap huh?",Xander asked not being serious.

"But, they go with everything",Oz told them.

That made Buffy think. Buffy was now picturing Oz wearing one of those funny ,tall, fuzzy hats and she still felt attracted to him. Now she knew she was in trouble.

"I'm sure we love the idea of going all Willy Loman, but we're not in the band",Buffy pointed out the obvious fact.

"And if I'd handed you a trombone, that would've been a problem 's candy. Sell it",Snyder told her handing her a box and exiting the cafeteria.

After the run in with Snyder nothing else seemed important. The day just continued on and all Buffy could think about was how hot Oz looked in a fuzzy marching band hat. Later she was in her kitchen telling her mom about Snyder and selling candy bars.

"But, you're not in the band",her mom told her pointing out the obvious.

"And yet",Buffy said.

"Buffy, what would I do with forty choclate bars",her mom asked her knowing she wasn't going to eat forty choclat bars.

"You could hand them out at the gallery. 'Buy something pre-columbian get a free cavity'",Buffy said trying to convience her mom to buy choclate bars.

Her mother thinks about it decides that it can't hurt to help.

"Twenty", she says.

Her mother hands Buffy back the box.

"You're a good mom",Buffy said while setting down the box.

"I'm the best", her mom told her confidently.

Buffy picked up her glass of water.

"No, I'm pretty sure the best moms let their daughters drive",Buffy said hoping she would say yes to the idea.

She unconsciously knew what her mom was going to say. There was still a big elephant in the room. There had been since she got back. They hadn't fully talked about it and it wasn't going away anytime soon. Buffy knew it was the reason that her mom wasn't going to let her drive.

Buffy took a sip of her water and eyed her mother hopefully.

"And yet", her mom said.

Buffy set down her glass.

"Oh, come on!",Buffy said not liking how this conversation was going.

Her mom got up from her seat and headed toward the fridge.

"Look, let's not have this conversation", her mom told her.

But, Buffy wasn't giving up that easily. She wanted this I mean driving could make patrol so much faster and that way she could have a life.

"But I took the class. I watched the filmstrips with the blood and the death and the corpses. I'm prepped",Buffy told her mother trying to show her that she was ready.

Her mom opened the fridge and took out the water jug.

"Honey, you failed the written test. They wouldn't even let you take the road test",her mom told her explaining why she didn't think it was a good idea.

Her mom poured herself some more water and put the jug back in the fridge.

"That was a year ago. And I don't test well... she said, two daysbefore the SATs",Buffy said.

Her mom went to sit back down and took a drink of her water.

"I spend enough time not knowing where you are. I don't want to add to that the possibility that you're on the highway to Chicago", her mom told her.

Buffy couldn't believe her mom was bringing up the fact that she ran away.

"I can't believe you. I'm not taking off again. Besides, if I wanted to,I could just get on a bus",Buffy told her.

She knew that wasn't going to be the winning argument and was only going to piss her off.

"'t. I just don't want you driving, okay ?I want you here", her mom told her as she looked at her intensely.

"I'm here. Hmm?See me here. Mm-hm?", Buffy told her as picked up an egg roll and started eating it.

Her mom nodded and turned back to her plate.

"Mm... I gotta go",Buffy says with her mouth full.

She got up from her seat and grabbed her box of choclates.

"What, you're going out?"her mom asked her surprisingly.

Buffy turned back at the door.

"Giles. Slay-study double feature. Could be late",Buffy told her.

"Again? Honey, don't you think is monopolizing an awful lot of your time?",her mom asked her.

"And does he ever say he's sorry",Buffy asked before heading out the door.

She headed for the libary. As soon as she got there she was she was being blinfolded. Giles tied the blindfold tightly around her head. A little too tightly.

"Ow",Buffy told Giles.

"Sorry",Giles said to her.

"Why do I put up with this?",Buffy asked.

"Because it is your destiny... and because I just bought twenty 'cocorific' candy bars",Giles said as he walked around her testing to see if she could see him.

Giles then handed her a large rubber ball.

"Okay, you're just doing this to take funny pictures of me",Buffy said not understanding why she was being blindfolded and given a rubber ball.

Giles continued to walk around her.

"I'm doing this to test your awarness of an opponent's location during a fight in total darkness. Now, wait five seconds and then throw the ball at me",Giles told her.

Giles quietly took several steps backwards towards the cage.

"You ran out of new training ideas about a week ago, huh?Okay. Five, four, three, two, one",Buffy said following Giles directions.

Buffy turned around and faced the door to Giles' office. He smiled thinking that she didn't know where he was. Buffy throws the ball and it hits wall and bounces off .

"It's not that simple, is it...",Giles said before the ball hit him in the back of the head.

"Ow. Ahem. Yes,well , very good",Giles told her.

"Thanks",Buffy said as she took off her blindfold and headed out of the libary.

"W-w-w-where are you going? We have to patrol!",Giles told her stuttering.

Buffy stopped and faced him before saying ,"I can't. Mom's in hyperdrive. She wants me home tonight. I told you."

Buffy continued heading out the libary.

"But,I...",Giles said before he was cut off.

Buffy stopped by the door.

"I know, I know. She's out of control. Enjoy the candy?",Buffy said before she went out the door leaving Giles standing there flabbergasted at her odd behavior.

As she continued out the school she felt guilty because she was lying. To her mother and to Giles. But they were driving her crazy. She just needed a little space.

After she left the school she headed toward the cemetary . Once she got there she saw somone standing by one of the mausoleum's and she walked over by that someone.

"Hey",Buffy said to the hidden someone.

"Hey",Oz said.

"Thanks for meeting me. I know it's late",Buffy said.

"No problem",Oz told at her looking at her and smiling.

"I know you don't like keeping things from Willow. But I think she's already worried about us enough as it is. You know with the werewolf thing. Not that she needs to worry but",Buffy said rambling.

"I know",Oz told her.

But in truth they both couldn't stop thinking about each other since they found out Buffy was a werewolf and this was just furthering their feelings.

"So",Oz said looking at her for answers to why she asked him here.

Not Willow, not Xander or god forbid Cordelia.

"You kinda on some level understand what I'm feeling right now with the whole life changing werewolf thing",Buffy told Oz.

"Oh",Oz said disappointed.

"Why ",Buffy said wondering why he wanted to know.

"Curious",Oz said lying.

On some level he thought Buffy might feel the same about him. But he didn't think a girl like Buffy would look at him twice. But he didn't know how wrong he was.

For the next few minutes Buffy and Oz talked about being a werewolf , how it felt to be a werewolf and the cons about being a werewolf.

Buffy looked at her watch and realized she had to get home.

"I gotta get going",Buffy told Oz. \

"See ya",Oz told Buffy.

"Bye",Buffy said.

They both started to go but then Buffy stopped.

"Oz",She said and he stopped to look at her.

"Yeah",Oz said.

"Do you...like meat",Buffy said.

"Sure",Oz said confused.

They both turned around and walked home. Buffy was kicking herself. That wasn't what she wanted to ask Oz. Truthfully she wanted to ask him if he had feelings for her. But she chickened out mostly because she didn't want to hurt Willow. She keept wondering what would've happened if she told Oz.

Buffy finally made to her house and opened the door and went inside and closed the door behind her. She hung up her coat. She turned around and jumped at the sight of her mother standing by the stairs and looking unusually calmly. She still had a chocolate bar in her hand.

"Hey!uh, sorry I'm late. All slay, all the time",Buffy said lying to her mother again.

Giles steped in the living room from the dining room.

Uh-oh, she thought. She was in trouble. It wasn't like this situation was entirely her fault. If they hadn't been keeping on eye on her 24-7 she would never had to lie to them. Yeah that was her defense this was there fault too.

"Hello,Buffy",Giles said.

"Do you guys wanna watch some television? I hear there's a very insightful Nightline on",Buffy asked them gesturing into the living room.

"Buffy you lied to you made us your alibis. That's...playing us against each othe r and that's not fair",her mother said.

"I called Willow. You also lied to her about your whereabouts. We were all concerned",Giles told her.

Buffy was at a loss. They called Willow. They had gotten her friends involved. That wasn't fair either.

Her mom unwrapped her choclate bar and holds it out for Giles to take a piece.

"Oh,thank you",Giles said as he took a piece.

"Look, I'm sorry , but I had to ...",Buffy started explain but was cut off by her mother as she went into the living room and her mother and Giles followed her.

"Were you at the Bronze? What was happening there that was so important?",her mother asked her.

"Bronze things. Things of Bronze",Buffy told her mother lying again.

"You're acting really immature,Buffy",her mother said condescendingly while chewing a candybar.

"I know I'm not you're parent, but I am responsible for you. I think your mum's right",Giles said while sitting on a couch armrest and also chewing a candybar.

"Okay, fine. I'm acting like a that's because your both treating me like a child",Buffy told them defending her actions.

"Buffy!",her mother said sounding hurt.

"You're both scheduling me twenty -four hours a day. Between the two of you, that's forty-eight hours",Buffy told them as Giles took off his glasses."I just want to be able to make a few decisions on my own."

"The last time you made a decision on your own, you split",her mother told her.

"Yeah, and I took care of myself. I don't need this much active parenting",Buffy told them.

"You can't really be trying to use this summer as a reason why you should be trusted",her mother said shocked.

Her mother continued to eat pieces of candy.

"You can't babysit me all the time. I just need you to back off a little",Buffy told them.

Giles held up his hand.

"Uh,alright, come on. Let's, let's not, uh, freak out",Giles said.

" 'Freak out'",Buffy said taken back.

"Mm-hmm. Uh, I think you should go to bed. Um we're all tired", Giles said as he stood up and put his glasses back on.

Buffy looked at them like they were both crazy. She thought they were hving a break down. She faced away for a second before storming up to her room. Her mother watched her go shaking her head.

Once in her room she thought about how easy it would be to just sneak out but she decided she was in enough trouble. So, she decided she would just go to sleep.

The next day at school she was sitting in study hall next to Cordelia. Willow and Xander were sitting behind them. They were waiting for the teacher to come and supervise studyhall. Everyone was getting impatient. Cordelia sighed.

"I heard that there was a secret rule that if a teacher's more than ten minutes late, we can all leave",Cordelia told Buffy.

Buffy looked up from the book she was studying from.

"It's Giles' turn to watch study hall. He'll be here. He's allergic to late",Buffy told Cordelia before going back to the book she was studying.

"He is wound a little tight. I had this philosophy book checked out from the libary for, like, a year, and he made me pay the fine, even though it was huge. I was sad to return it. It was perfect for starting conversations with college boys. Of course, that was B.X.",Cordelia ranted to Buffy.

"B.X. ?",Buffy asked not knowing the obvious answer.

Cordelia nodded at her and the obvious came to her.

"Before Xander. Clever",Buffy told her.

The two girls went back to studying.

Xander and Willow seemed to be talking while Xander was munching on one of the choclate bars.

"I like chocolate. There is no bad there", Xander said while looking at Willow.

"You still have some left? I went to, like, four houses, and they were gone. It's like Trick-or-Treating in reverse",Willow told Xander and smiled at him.

Unknown to Buffy and Cordelia Willow and Xander were actually playing footsie under the table.

Both Willow and Xander were having guilty feelings about the feelings they had for each other. But, they didn't know how to stop the feelings or tell their significant others. Either way ; there was no way that this could end well.

"I know. These things are selling like hot cakes...which is ironic 'cause the hot cakes really aren't moving...",Xander said subtly looking at Willow.

"And it's, uh, ahem, fun to sell chocolate. Ahem",Xander continued nervously as the two continued playing footsie.

"And we're raising a lot of money for the band", Willow said nervously.

Xander looked back and forth between the candy bar and Willow before setting his gaze on the candy bar. Willow was playing with her pencil while looking at her closed book. Both of them trying not to draw any attention to them.

"The band. Yeah. They're great. They march",Xander told Willow.

"Like an army. E-e-except with music instead of bullets, and...usually no one dies", Willow said distracted by Xander continuing playing footsie with her under the table.

Cordelia suddenly turns around and faces them.

"I can't believe this",Cordelia said surprising the two she was looking at.

Xander and Willow whip their legs away from each other so fast that they hit the opposite legs of the table and made the table give a loud thunk sound. The both of them were praying that they hadn't just given themselves away.

"Where is Giles already ? I'm bored, and he's not here to give me credit for it",Cordelia said.

Xander and Willow sighed a breath of relief. Obviously Cordelia hadn't paid any attention to the loud thunk. If she did she would have no problem telling them.

Buffy looked over at the classroom door suddenly, worried. Giles was never late, he was alergic to late. The last time he was late for anything was when they were dealing with Eyghon. So she had a right to be worried. She jiust hoped that it wasn't anything like that. But they were living on a hellmouth so chances were that something was going on.

A few minutes later walked in the classroom and claped her hands to get everyone's attention.

"Hey ! We're all stuck here, okay? So now let's just sit quietly and, pretend we're reading something untill we're really sure that old commandant Snyder's gone and then we're all outta here!"Ms. Barton told the students as she smiled widely.

Buffy looked at confused. It wasn't like she didn't like getting out of class earlier but letting them out early . That was wierd.

"Does anyone else wanna marry ?"Xander asked liking the idea of getting out of class early.

"Get in line",Cordelia told her boyfriend.

"I guess Giles isn't coming?" Willow asked Buffy.

"I guess not", Buffy said very concerned about Giles.

After class let out Buffy headed out to Giles apartment to check on him. Buffy walked up to his door and looked through the view port. She saw that he was in the apartment so she went in. Giles was looking through some albums. Buffy closed the sound got Giles' attention and looked to where the sound was made.

"Buffy",Giles said.

"Uh...Sorry. I ...I was just worried. You were a big not-there in study hall, and after your lecture on me not ducking out...and why is my mother here?", Buffy said confused as to why her mother would be there sitting on Giles' couch let alone at all.

Giles stepped over to Buffy's mother.

"We had an opportunity for, um, you might say, a summit meeting. It took priority over study hall. I called in",Giles said with a mouth full of chocolate.

"Oh", Buffy said still confused.

"We decided that you made agood point earlier, honey", her mother said finally speaking up since Buffy got there.

Her mother and Giles both nodded.

Buffy didn't know if she liked the sound of that or not. This whole situation was wierd.

"I . Which was...?"Buffy said still confused.

"A-about us overscheduling you", her mother told her as she looked to Giles for support.

"Pulling you in two different directions, uh, your home life and your duties as a slayer", Giles said while he sat down on the coffee table.

"Oh. That was a good point", Buffy said still not sure if that was a good thing or not.

"We're working out a coordinated schedule for you",her mother told her.

No this was definitely not a good thing. She was going to be scheduled 24/7 not a good thing. She was never going to see Oz.

"It'll be tight, but, uh, I think we can fit in all your responsibilities",Giles said and smiled at her.

"Sounds nice and structured",Buffy said and gave them an uncertain smile.

"We've got more work to do here, honey. Why don't you give us a little more time?" her mother told her.

Giles got up and walked over to the the fireplace mantel and stared at picture. Her mother reached into her purse and grabbed her keys and stood up in front of Buffy.

"Um..Take the car, and, um, can drive me home", her mother said as she held out the keys to Buffy.

She was taken aback. There was no way that she heard that right. although her mother was holding out keys to her so she must've heard that right.

"What?" Buffy said wide-eyed and surprised.

Buffy smiled and shook her head at her mother.

"Excuse me, I mean what?" Buffy said still surprised.

There was no way that her mother was serious. Any minute now she was going to take back the keys tell her she was joking and how she would never let her drive because she was irresponsible. Any minute now...

"Keys. Take them", her mother said seriously.

"You don't have to tell me twice. Well, actually, you did, but... Bye!" Buffy said taking the keys from her mother and rushing out the door.

Buffy figured the best plan was to take the keys and run before her mother came to her senses and changed her mind.

"Bye, honey. Drive careful",her mother told her as she was rushing out the door.

"Uh-huh",Buffy called back to her mother not really sure what she said.

Buffy left Giles apartment hopped into her mother's car and headed for anywhere that wasn't near her mother and Giles. Even though she was loving the fact that her mother let her drive her car, without a license, she was still wigged out about how wierd they were acting.

Buffy drove over to Willow's house to pick her up. Willow was obviously surprised that Buffy was driving her mother's jeep let alone driving at all. Willow was a little nervous to get in the jeep. As soon as Willow was in Buffy took off for the Bronze.

"Tell me again how it happened",Willow asked her bestfriend refering to how she got the jeep.

It wasn't that Willow didn't believe her best friend it was just that she couldn't believe that Buffy's mother would let her drive her car. Especially after what Buffy said yesterday about her mother and Giles supervising her 24/7.

"Told my mom I wanted to be treated more like a grownup, and voila: driviness", Buffy told her bestfriend.

Buffy turned the corner without slowing down and skid around it. Which freaked out Willow, who was now breathing nervously.

"Also, I think she wanted me otherwhere. Considering my mom and Giles are planning my future, I think it's easier for them to live my life if i'm not actually there",Buffy explained to Willow.

"Do you know that you have the parking break on?"Willow asked noticing it earlier.

"Uh-huh",Buffy said liying to her bestfriend.

Buffy reached down and released the parking brake. The car revved much higher, and they went faster.

"Are, are you sure about the Bronze? I mean, the SATs are tomorrow",Willow asked nervously.

"I can study at the Bronze. A little dancing, a little cross-multiplying. You know what we need",Buffy told Willow as she smiled wickedly.

Buffy reached over and turned on the radio. When she tried to turn the station she bended down to low to see over the dashboard.

"Eyes on the road! Eyes on the road!"Willow said almost screamingly.

While Buffy was trying to change the station she didn't realize she was pulling on the steering wheel, so the car made a wide left turn, But didn't hit anything forunately. Buffy quickly sat back up and continued to drive to the Bronze.

Once in the Bronze Buffy and Willow were both a liitle confused by the unusual mix of people in the Bronze and they weren't wrong to be. Mixed in with the regulars were people old enough to be the parents of the regulars. But on the upside the Dingoes were playing.

Buffy and Willow were walking into the Bronze when Oz noticed them. He smiled at the sight of Buffy.

Willow and Buffy looked at each other with amazment and concern.

They continued to walk through the crowd.

"Let's do the time warp again",Buffy said regarding the older crowd.

"Maybe there's a reunion in town or, or a Billy Joel tour or something ", trying to find reasoning for why all the grown-ups were in the Bronze.

Ms. Barton walked past the two girls and of course Buffy and Willow noticed her.

"?"Buffy said shocked that was here.

"Buffy ? Whoa", said to her.

"Are you okay, ?"Willow asked her.

Truthfully seemed a little out of it.

"Oh, I'm cool, Willow. Willow...That's a tree. You're a tree", told Willow.

Buffy and Willow exchanged a look. They both thought she was on something.

"Yeah, uh, uh, are there any nachos in here,little tree?" asked Willow.

"A-are you sure you don't want some fresh air,",Willow asked her.

"Okay...", said laughing hysterically and going into the crowd.

"Hey, this is not normal",Willow said.

Buffy looked at her like she was Cordelia whenever she said something painfully obvious.

"Uh, w-well, maybe that goes without saying", Willow said obviously getting the hint Buffy was giving her.

Principal Snyder spotted the two girls and came up to them.

"Hey gang !"Snyder said and put his arms around the girls.

"This place is Fun City, huh?"Snyder continued.

"Principal Snyder?",Buffy said shocked to see Snyder her much less near her.

It was a known fact that Snyder and Buffy couldn't stand each other. So why he was trying to hang out with her now that he was acting like a teenager was wierd. Buffy was now offically wierded out. All the grownups acting like teenagers was one thing but Snyder hanging out with her was the last straw. She was now freaking out.

"Call me a last name, like...Barbarino",Snyder said trying to be cool.

He let go of the girls and started pumping his fists and arms around wildly. Which was wierd because Snyder was usually mean as a snake so Buffy figured that was how he was in high school too. Apparently she was wrong.

"Ooh! I'm stoked",Snyder told the girls.

Willow didn't know what to make of this whole situation. To be honest it gave her the wiggins.

Snyder had come back from his outburst and let out a breath.

"Hey, did you see ? I think she's wasted. I'm gonna have to put that in her next performance review 'cause... 'cause I'm the principal !"Snyder laughed.

Snyder turned around and headed into the crowd.

"I don't like this. They could have heart attacks", Willow said to Buffy.

Buffy had to agree with Willow. People their age should not be acting like teenagers it could be hazardous.

"Uh, well... may-maybe there's a doctor here", Buffy said tring to be hopeful.

"I think that **is** my doctor", Willow said talking about the older shirtless man who pushed Devon away from the microphone.

The older man jumped from the stage to crowd surf which really didn't pan out because the crowd wasn't quick enough because he slammed face first into the floor. Buffy and Willow cringed at the sight.

"He-he's usually less topless",Willow told Buffy.

Syder stuck his head in between the girls.

"I got a commendation for being principal. From the mayor! Shook my hand twice", Snyder said impressed with himself.

"That's nice", Buffy said not really caring.

Snyder nodded and breathed in deeply. Two attractive women passed by and Snyder made eyes at them.

"Whoa! There are some foxy ladies here tonight!" Snyder said following the women.

Buffy and Willow walked in the other direction.

"What's happening ?"Willow asked Buffy hoping she had some theories.

"I don't know, but it's happening to a whole lot of grownups", Buffy told Willow.

She had no clue what was happening she couldn't think of any reason why this would be happening except the most obvious. Which was that they were living on a hellmouth.

They continued to walk until the got by the stairs and then they stopped to look back at the crowd.

"They're acting like a bunch...",Willow started to stay.

"They're acting like a buch of us",Buffy told Willow seriously.

"I don't act like this",Willow said confused.

But Buffy was right the grownups were acting like a bunch of teenagers. Someone was up to something and it wasn't good and they were using the grownups to do it.

The Dingoes song ended and Oz went to join Buffy and Willow. They at him as he joined them. The three of them were now looking at the crowd still confused as hell.

"Something's definitely changing them",Buffy said stating the obvious.

"A spell ?"Willow asked.

Buffy thought that about that Witchcraft was the most likely. But something was bugging Buffy about the whole thing. Why? Why would someone go to the trouble of changing the grownups into teenagers. There was something amiss.

"They're teenagers. It's a sobering mirror to look into, huh?"Oz asked the girls.

Oz had a point. It wasn't like they all acted like this all the time but they did act like this so it was a bit sobering.

Snyder walked past and saw Oz and stopped.

"You've got great hair",Snyder said.

Snyder walked around Oz, smiling and staring at her hair. Oz ran his hand through his hair nervously second guessing his hair the music that was playing stopped and a group of old men had got up on the stage and started singing "Louie, Louie." They sang it out of sync and horribly as an old nerd walked by and Oz and Buffy stared.

"It just gets more upsetting", Willow said talking about the older couples who were making out on the dance floor.

"No vampire has ever been **that **scary",Buffy said pointing to the stage.

Behind them a man was staggering through the crowd, drunk and eating a chocolate bar. He bumped into another man, who got mad and started a fight with him. People started gathering around them and yelling fight.

"Fight",Snyder said as he came up to Buffy, Willow and Oz nodding his head viorously and smiling.

Willow sighed, knowing she was helpless in this started to head out of the Bronze. Willow and Oz following behind.

"We've gotta figure out what's going on. This has hellmouth fingerprints all over it", Buffy said as they were heading out.

The three stop by the pinball machine where she sees a woman hold out a candy bar to her boyfriend. He took a huge bite while he kept playing the game. Their stop gives Snyder time to realize that they were leaving and that he had to follow them.

"Hey, where are we going?"Snyder asked following them.

The four of them left the club and the three actual teenagers rushed out and headed for Buffy's mom's car. Trying unsuccessfully to loose Snyder.

"Wait up, you guys!"Snyder said trailing after them.

He came out the door and tries to catch up with the three teenagers.

"Hey!You guys aren't trying to ditch me, are ya?"Snyder asked still following them.

Buffy ,Willow and Oz got into the jeep not really caring about Snyder at the moment.

"We should find Giles. He'll know what's going on right?"Oz asked the other two who had known Giles longer.

Snyder ran up to the passenger side of the car, and saw that all the seats were taken on that side, so he ran around to the driver's side.

"Sure. Except for all we know he's sweet sixteen again",Buffy told Oz while she pulled on her seat belt.

Giles at sixteen was not a good thing. From what she heard from Giles the time Eyghon surfaced it was a **really** bad thing.

"He's with your mom at his place",Willow reminded her.

Buffy had forgotten that. That wasn't good. It wasn't like she didn't trust Giles, but she didn't know Giles back then and from what Giles told her, she didn't think she should let them be alone for too long. Which meant that they should head over there very quickly.

Buffy started the car and Snyder hopped in.

"I said, wait up!"Snyder said as he slammed the door.

"Uh, Snyder...",Oz started to say .

"No time. He's comming with us",Buffy said.

Buffy put the car in gear and slammed on the gas, burning rubber in her hurry to get outta there.

"Whoa, Summers you drive like a spaz!"Snyder told Buffy.

Willow knew the feeling. Willow loved her bestfriend but she drove like a maniac. Oz was clutching the was a little scared of Buffy's driving as well. He didn't know his feelings for Buffy just yet but he was going to remind himself never to get in a car that Buffy was driving ever again no matter what his feeelings for the blonde.

Buffy continued to drive along to Giles. Her driving was better than when they left the bronze.

"It'll be okay when we get to Giles'",Willow said still very worried.

"Of course, I mean, even if he's sixteen, he's still Giles, right?He's probably a pretty together guy",Oz said asking the two girls who knew Giles longer.

"Yeah, well...",Willow said worriedly giving Buffy a look.

Oz saw the look Willow gave Buffy and knew something was up.

"What?"Oz asked them.

"Giles at sixteen? Less together guy, more bad-magic-hates-the-world-ticking-time-bomb guy",Buffy told Oz.

"Well, then I guess your mom's in a lotta trouble",Oz told her.

Buffy knew that already , she knew her mom was in trouble. Normally if her mother was with Giles she wouldn't worry. But, Giles was sixteen and he wasn't the guy she knew and loved he was probably a danger to her mother. Buffy knew the sooner she got to her mother the less worried she'd be.

Snyder raised his eyebrows and nodded agreeing with what Buffy said even though he had no clue what was going on while Buffy continued driving along to Giles' place.

"This is great! Let's do doughnuts in the football field, huh?"Snyder said not taking the serious tone of the other three.

As Buffy headed into the intersection and another driver was coming in the other direction. The driver was too busy unwrapping the chocolate bar to pay attention to the road and realize his light is red.

"Oh, my god, look out!"Willow said drawing Buffy 's attention to the jeep that was about to hit them.

All four of them brace themselves for impact. The other car hit them hard on the left rear door and back panel, making them spin about a quarter turn.

The driver of the other car quickly got out.

"Sorry! Gotta go", the driver said and ran off laughing as Buffy and the others got out of her mother's jeep.

Buffy 's first instinct was to chase the man and make him pay for the damages but she stopped before she could when she saw the massive dent in her mother's jeep.

"Oh,God",Buffy said knowing full well that when her mother returned to normal that she was dead.

Buffy closed her door and Snyder tried to do the same but it wouldn't close properly anymore.

"Are you guys okay?"Buffy asked them.

In the back of her mind she was really asking Oz if he was okay. It wasn't like she wasn't worried about the other two or that she didn't care it was just that she was having serious feelings about Oz. Now was not the time to be figuring this out though. But one thing was for sure the feelings weren't going away.

"Is anybody else all creeped out and trembly ?"Willow asked as she and Oz walked around the car to where Buffy and Snyder stood.

Buffy looked over to the side and saw three men sitting in the playground smoking and laughing.

"Oh, Buffy...Your mom's gonna kill you",Snyder said as he rubbed her shoulder.

Her mom. Something in Buffy's mind clicked. mom. The adults were all over the place acting like teenagers so where were all the demons and vampires. She looked to the other side of the street and saw five guys hanging out by a tree.

"Something's weird", Buffy said.

"Something's not ?"Oz said.

"No grownups", Buffy told them.

"No one's protecting their houses. Everyone's just...wandering",Buffy said as she saw Snyder was unwrapping his chocolate bar.

A man ran up to Snyder and grabbed his chocolate bar and ran off with it.

"Hey !"Snyder said yelling after the man.

Willow and Oz stared at the man as he ran away.

"Hey, give it",Snyder said as he went after the man.

"Defenseless",Willow said as the realization hit her.

"So where are all the vampires? "Buffy said.

The three of them all consider this strange dilemma.

"Soups on, but no one's grabbing a spoon",Buffy said.

"Something 's happening ...Someplace that's else",Oz said finishing Buffy's thought.

"I'd say something big",Buffy said.

Snyder walked back over by the three upset.

"That guy took my candy !", Snyder told the other three.

Buffy suddenly gets it. The candy. The band candy everyone has been selling is cursed. She gave Willow and Oz an astonished look.

"The candy. I-it's gotta be the candy ! It's cursed",Buffy told them.

Willow and Oz exchanged a look. Buffy was secretly wishing that Oz would give her a look like that. She then focused on the cursed candy.

"A curse! Oh. I've got a curse",Snyder said worried.

"God, using candy for evil !"Willow said worried.

"My parents ate a ton",Oz told them.

Buffy looked at Snyder and dived at him, pushing him up against the other jeep.

"Who's behind it ?"Buffy violently asked Snyder.

"I don't know. It came through the school board . If you knew that crowd...", Snyder said shaking his head.

Buffy didn't have time for twenty questions she needed information now and was losing patience with Snyder.

"Where did it come from? Do you know where to get it?",Buffy barked at Snyder.

"Yeah",Snyder anwered her.

"You guys get Xander and Cordelia. Go to the libary and look it up",Buffy told Willow and Oz.

"Candy curses",Oz said not really knowing what to research.

"Disturbing second childhood. Got it", Willow said as she grabbed Oz's hand and they started on their way.

Buffy watched them walk away with envy. She wished she could be in Willow's place for more than one reason. She quickly buried the feeling.

"Ratboy and I are going to the source",Buffy said to Snyder as she shoved him toward the car.

Buffy pulled up to the loading dock in a screeching halt and she sees two guys throwing chocolate bars to the crowd. She and Snyder get out of the jeep and march over to the crowd . Buffy passed two people she thought she recognised but she had to be wrong. Buffy turned around and came face to face with her watcher and her mother kissing.

"Mom ? Giles?" Buffy said in disbelief.

"Go away. We're busy", Giles said as he continued kissing her mother.

Buffy pulled her mother away from Giles.

"Hey !", her mother yelled at her.

"Where did you get that coat? Never mind. Listen...",Buffy started to tell her mother before Giles grabbed her arm and turned her to face him.

"Back off !"Giles told her.

"Giles, think about this. You wanna fight me, or you wanna let me talk to my mother ?"Buffy asked him.

Giles smart man that he was choose the latter. Giles knew that he couldn't take her. He yanked his hand back and grabbed the cigarette from behind his ear. Buffy turned back to her mother as Giles put the cigarette in his mouth and was now searching for a lighter.

"Mom, look at me. Do you know who I am?"Buffy asked her unsure how well her memory was at the moment.

Giles lit the cigarette.

"Of course. You're Buffy. Hey, look. They're giving away candy. You want some candy ?"Joyce asked her smiling.

"No, I don't!And you don't need anymore either",Buffy told her mother.

"I'm fine.I can have more if I want", her mother said very annoyed with her.

"You are **not ** need to go home",Buffy told her mother.

"Screw you. I want candy !", her mother told her.

"Mom !"Buffy said surprised at what her mother just said to her.

"You wanna slay stuff, and **I'm **not allowed to do anything about it. Well, this is what **I **wanna do, so get off my back !" her mother told her.

"Mom, please, this is...", Buffy started to say .

"Oh, for God's sake. Just let your mum have the sodding candy bar. C'mon Joyce", Giles said pulling her away.

Buffy held her mother back and pointed at the jeep.

"Mom, look at your car. Look at the dent the size of New Brunswick. I did that",Buffy told her mother.

Buffy was prepared for yelling but with the candy still in effect she didn't know what to expect.

Her mother looked at the jeep shocked beyond belief while Giles took a drag of his cigarette.

"Oh, my God. What was I thinking when I bought the **geek** machine",Buffy's mother said more shocked that she bought the jeep than the dent that was in it.

Giles busted out laughing. Buffy couldn't believe what was going on. She decided that she was going to get much farther with her mother so she decided to try Giles. Buffy stepped over to Giles.

"Listen to me. You need...",Buffy said before Giles interupted her.

"No, you listen to me. I'm your watcher, so you do what I tell you. Now, sod off !"Giles said pointing at the jeep.

Buffy grabbed the cigarette from his mouth and stomped on it. The bully routine might work on someone else but she was the slayer and she was going to take this. Even, if it was from Giles.

"Take her home", Buffy ordered Giles sternly.

Buffy headed for the crowd. Giles grabbed Joyce's hand and followed Buffy.

"Joyce...",Giles told her.

Buffy pushed her way through the crowd toward the loading dock. Buffy stepped on a crate and sent one of the men who were tossing out candy into the crowd by punching him in the back of the knee. He fell off the end of the dock. Buffy started fighting with the man that was left. Buffy knocked him into the factory wall and then she grabbed him by the shirt and sent him off the dock and into another wall. Buffy saw her mother and Giles stuffing their pockets with candy bars and went over to them.

"Mom !"Buffy said and grabbed her by the arms and pulled her up.

"Hey !"her mother yelled.

Giles looked up at the sound of Joyce yelling.

"Oy ! You leave her alone !"Giles said going after Buffy.

Buffy kicked the door to the factory . Giles followed Buffy and her mother into the factory. In the crowd Snyder saw them go in.

"Hey , Brit-face ! Wait up!" Snyder said scrambeling to join them.

Buffy pulled her mother into the shipping area and let go of her.

"Stay", Buffy ordered her mother.

Buffy looked around the factory and saw it filled wall to wall with boxes of chocolate bars. She looked across the room and she saw a man talking on the phone and thought he sounded familiar. Giles and Snyder walked in shipping area behind her.

"It smells so chocolatey", Snyder told them.

Buffy approached the man on the phone.

"This is far out", Giles said talking about the chocolate because he had yet to notice the familiar man.

The man started talking into the phone and that was when it hit Buffy. Ethan Rayne.

"Yeah, I've been out there. Town's wide open. You guys can go anytime",Ethan said into the phone.

Buffy crossed her arms to close the distance between them.

"Ethan Rayne",Buffy said, which got Giles attention.

Giles looked over to where Buffy was and recognised his old "friend". Ethan turned to face her and his eyes went wide with surprise. He hadn't expected that Buffy would find out his part in all of this. Giles approached him with Joyce close behind.

"Might wanna hurry ", Ethan said into the phone nervously.

"Ethan",Giles said to Ethan.

"Ripper", Ethan said back to his old friend.

Before anyone can do anything else Ethan took off running and of course Buffy and Giles chase after him. Ethan ran under the inclinded conveyor belt and pulled a rack behind him to block his way, but Buffy and Giles just jump over the low end of it and continue the chase.

In the meantime back at the libary , Oz and Xander were in the stacks researching while Cordelia and Willow were sitting at the table looking through more promising volumes.

"At first it was fun, you know ? They seemed like they were in this really good mood-not like parents-and then...", Cordelia explained to Willow.

"Badness",Willow finished for Cordelia.

"Mom started borrowing my clothes. There should be an age limit on lycra pants. And Dad, he just locked himself in the bathroom with old copies of esquire", Cordelia continued to explain to the girls.

Xander came down by the girls with a couple more books.

"I don't get this The candy's supposed to make you feel all immature and stuff, but I've had a ton, and I don't feel any diff...",Xander said earning looks from the girls.

"Never mind", Xander told them.

Xander held out two for Willow to choose from.

"I'll take that one",Willow said and she took hold of a book, but her thumb ended up on Xander's and the two felt electricity between them and allowed the touch to linger longer than it should've.

Willow and Xander looked at and away from each finally pulled the book from Xander's hand, and he headed back up the stairs with the other one. Cordelia remained oblivious to what was happening with Willow and Xander and kept staring into her book while Willow followed Xander with her gaze.

"You wanna swap",Cordelia asked Willow which startled her.

"What ? Swap ?"Willow said confused.

Willow's mind was still on Xander so she thought Cordelia wanted to swap boyfriend's. But Willow was quickly brought back to reality.

"You wanna swap ? This book is really thick, and I'm not sure it's in english",Cordelia said trading books with Willow.

Willow went back to her research. She didn't know when or how but she had to stop having feelings for Xander. But she was relieved that Cordelia didn't want to swap boyfriends, not that Cordelia ever would.

Back at the Milkbar factory Ethan was running through a maze of cases of candy bars. He reached the end of an aisle and turned left. Buffy and Giles rushed to keep up. They made several twists and turns, and finally Buffy turned a corner to find that she lost him. Behind her Giles stopped running, too, and breaths heavily to catch his breath.

"Where... Bloody hell!",Giles complained of being so out of breath.

"That's what smoking will do to you. Now be quiet",Buffy ordered Giles.

"Well...Where'd the bastard go ?",Giles asked her.

"Shh!"Buffy said to Giles annoyed.

Buffy looked around and listened carefully. She went around a corner and stoped.

"What?"Giles asked her.

Buffy pretended to go on but then suddenly kicked the crate and yanked away a chunk of wood. Buffy reached in and pulled out Ethan's head.

"Look. A box full of farm-fresh chicken",Buffy said to Giles.

Ethan gave her a nervous smile, but it quickly faded. Buffy pulled the rest of Ethan out of the crate.

"So, Ethan, what are we playing ? We're pretty much in a talk-or-bleed situation. Your call",Buffy told Ethan.

Giles however didn't want to give him a choice he wanted to resort to violence.

"Hit him",Giles told his slayer.

Buffy glared at him for a moment before looking back at Ethan.

"I-I'd just like to point out that this wasn't my idea",Ethan said trying to find a way to get out of this situation without being beaten to pulp.

"Meaning...?"Buffy said wanting more details.

"I'm subcontracting. It's Trick you want. I'm just helping him collect a tribute...for a demon",Ethan explained to Buffy.

"He's lying. Hit him !"Giles said really wanting Ethan in pain.

"I don't think he is, and shut up", Buffy told Giles.

"You're **my **slayer, go knock his teeth down his thr...",Giles ordered Buffy excitedly.

"Giles !" Buffy interupted him.

Giles turned away from her and continued pacing.

"What demon ?"Buffy asked Ethan.

Buffy punched Ethan solidly in the nose making Ethan stumble back against the crate.

"Yes !",Giles said jumping and swinging his fists through the air.

Buffy gave Giles a glaring look and he lost his smile.

"Lurconis. Demom named Lurconis. They wanted a way to get the tribute away from people",Ethan explained.

"So you're just Diversion guy",Buffy said.

"More than just a diversion. Well, they said the tribute was big, so big that people would never let them take it. The people had to be out-of-it. And later on, when the candy wore off, they'd blame themselves",Ethan explained.

Buffy sighed.

"Hence, land of the irresponsible. So where's Trick ?"Buffy asked him.

"I don't know", Ethan told her.

"Hit him again", Giles told Buffy.

Buffy knew there was a chance that Ethan was telling the truth. But, there was more of a chance that he was lying. Buffy held up her fist and gave Ethan a threatening look.

"No ! I-I-I really don't know. Delivering the tribute", Ethan said warding Buffy off with his hand.

Buffy stepped closer to Ethan.

"Which brings us to the bonus question, and believe me when I say a wrong answer will cost you **all **your points", Buffy told Ethan.

Behind her Giles was leaping joyously with a huge smile on his face. He was anticipating a good fight.

"What's the tribute ?" Buffy asked him.

"I don't know",Ethan told her.

"Oh, come on Ethan they had to tell you something",Buffy said getting annoyed with all the games.

"If they did I would tell you",Ethan said earning a look from Buffy.

"Really. I would tell you. I might like doing evil but I like me a whole lot more",Ethan told her.

Buffy knew **that **was the truth. Ethan cared about saving his own skin above all else. Buffy grabbed him by the arm and dragged him back by her mother and Giles. Giles followed quickly behind. She threw Ethan into the table Snyder was standing next to.

"Watch him", Buffy ordered Snyder.

Snyder nodded while Buffy picked up the phone and called Willow. The phone rang afew times before she heard Willow's voice.

"Hello"

"Hey Will"

"Buffy what did you find out"

"A lot. The candy is a diversion for some demon named Lurconis. I need you to research him and fast"

"Lurconis?"

"Right. Lurconis"

"Lurconis. a demon. What's his deal ?"

"See if it says anything about a tribute"

"A tribute? Like what?"

"I don't know. My source is all tapped out"

Buffy looked at Ethan.

Behind her Snyder is talking to Ethan.

"She whupped you good, huh?yah! Wah!",Snuder says throwing a couple punches to demonstrate.

"I can do that. I took Tae Kwon Do at the Y"Snyder continued proudly before toward Buffy's mother to impress her. She just rolled her eyes and looked away ,unimpressed. Snyder relazied it didn't work and leaned against the wall. Buffy's mother just continues chewing her gum and blows a bubble.

Buffy was still on thephone with Willow.

"No, no. It's definitely a demon. A big one"

Ethan spied a crowbar on the table , and noticed he was unguarded so he reached for it and began to advance toward Buffy. Giles noticed and pulled out the stolen gun and pointed it at Ethan's neck.

"I wouldn't", Giles said to Ethan.

Ethan stopped. He hadn't heard Giles come up behind him. Buffy turned around and saw Giles and Ethan and assumed that Ethan had tried to go after her and Giles stopped him. Buffy swung the telephone reciever into the Ethan's chin. He fell to the ground dropping the crowbar. Giles aimed the gun at the back of Ethan's head while Buffy handed the phone to her mother.

"Giles, give me the phone",Buffy said holding out her hand.

He stared at Buffy but he didn't budge.

"Giles...",Buffy said as she stared back.

Giles kept the gun aimed at Ethan. Her mother was talking into the phone.

"Now !"Buffy told Giles sternly.

After a moment Giles reluctantly gave Buffy the gun which she stuffed in the back of her pants. Her mother held out the phone to her.

"Uh, it's, um, it's wants you real bad", her mother told her as Buffy took the phone.

"Uh-huh?"Buffy said into the phone.

Back at the libary Oz was pointing into a book that he had brought over to Willow.

"Okay, Oz just found it. 'The tribute to Lurconis is made every thirty years'. I-it's a ritual feeding. A-and this one's late, so it's probably, you know, a big meal", Willow said into the phone.

Oz pointed to another paragraph in the book.

"Oh. And... Oh. Lurconis eats babies",Willow said into the phone having a difficult time digesting the information.

Back at the factory as soon as Buffy heard the word babies she immediately hung up and started to leave. This wasn't good. If she didn't do anything Lurconis was going to eat poor innocent, defenseless babies.

"Come on",Buffy said as she took her mother's hand.

"Well, what about that man",her mother asked her referring to Ethan.

Buffy turned to see Giles holding a crowbar over Ethan, who was still on the ground.

"Uh, see if you guys can find something to tie him up with",Buffy told her.

"Um...", her mother said reaching behind her and pulling out a set of handcuffs, dangling them in front of Buffy giving her a sheepish yet mischievious look.

"**Never **tell me",Buffy told her mother.

She didn't want to know how her mother got the handcuffs. Even the thought of how gave her the grabbed the handcuffs and walked over to Ethan. Her mother followed her with a gaze and handcuffed Ethan to a chair and the other four headed for the hospital.

The four dashed to the maternity ward and found empty baby cribs. Buffy had a sad look on her face as she walked over to one of the cribs and picked up an identification bracelet left behind. Giles had gone over to the nurse to see what she knew.

"I didn't see anything. I don't **know **where they are",the nurse told Giles.

"Something's gonna eat those babies", Buffy's mother said sad and worried.

"What can **I **do?" the nurse continued in the backround.

"I think that is so wrong",Snyder said shaking his head.

"Get off my back about it!"the nurse said stalking off and shaking her head.

Giles came in the room.

"She says she never saw who took them. Dozy cow",Giles told Buffy.

"I **know **who took them",Buffy told Giles.

"Well, then let's do something. Let's find the demon, and...kick the crap out of it",Giles told her.

"Is that what happens now?"Snyder asked them.

"Yeah, if we knew where they were",Buffy said and started pacing.

"'Lurconis dwells beneath the city, filth to filth'",Giles said suddenly remembering a passage from a book.

"What?"Buffy said and stopped pacing.

"Ooo! I know this. Uh...I knew this.'Lurconis' means...'glutton.' And we'll find it, um... in the sewers",Giles told Buffy.

"The sewers?", Buffy 's mother said going to hug Giles.

"Uh, good. You go do that thing with the demon, and I'll stay here in case the babies, you know, uh...find their way back",Snyder said not wanting to admit he was afraid of the demon.

"The babies must be so scared", Buffy's mother said sadly as she let go of Giles.

"You filthy little ponce. Are you afraid of a little demon?"Giles asked Snyder stepping toward him and challenging him.

"If you want to splash around in the poo, you're the filthy one!"Snyder said shoving Giles.

Giles shoved him back. Buffy got in between them very annoyed.

"Okay, you know what? Everybody just stop it!Okay, listen to me.I need help, okay? Giles, I need grownups",Buffy said.

Snyder and Giles were continuing to stare each other down.

"These children are gonna die if we don't act now, okay, and think clearly. There is no room for mistakes. Besides which...you guys are just wigging me out",Buffy said.

Snyder looked away while Giles gave him one last stare and then, stepped over to Joyce.

"Sorry",Giles said.

"We'll behave",her mother told her.

Her mother and Giles hug again.

"Good. Snyder, go home",Buffy ordered him.

"I can do that",Snyder said and left.

"Giles, we're going to the sewers",Buffy told him.

Giles kissed her mother and Buffy cringed.

"And don't do that!"Buffy told them and stalked out of the room.

They broke off the kiss and followed Buffy to the jumped through the nearest man hole and found Trick and the others all getting ready for Lurconis.

"Hi",Buffy told them.

Buffy started her attack on them as Giles jumped down from the ladder into the sewer. The vampires quickly moved to attack them. While Buffy is taking care of the vampires Giles and Buffy's mother ran over to the table with the babies and wheeled it away. Buffy continues to fight the vampires while Giles and her mother get the babies to a safe distance. Giles leaves them to go and fight the vampires. Buffy and Giles continue to fight until Buffy kicked on of the vampires into the pool and suddenly all they hear is deep rumbling. The vampire tries to get out of the water and climbs onto the pedestal in the middle of the pool.

"What the hell's that?"Giles asked.

The vampire got to his knees and a large snake demon appeared through another tunnel by the water. It sees the vampire and engulfs him and retreats back into the tunnel.

"Lurconis, I'm thinking",Buffy told him.

"Ordinarily, I like other people to do my fighting for me, but I just gotta see what you got",Trick told her as he challenged her.

"Just tell me when it hurts",Buffy told Trick.

Buffy started to advance on him when Giles rushed past her and pushed her back.

"Giles! No!"Buffy yelled.

Giles threw a punch into Trick's face and Trick grabbed Giles by the shirt and threw him into the pool. Giles started to get out of the pool when the rumbling started and Buffy started to wig. Buffy looked around frantically for a way to stop Lurconis. She saw a gas pipe above her and jumped up and grabbed it. It broke under her weight, and gas began to hiss out of it. Giles was out of the water and rolled over the rim of the pool and down to the pool. Buffy angled the gas pipe into one of the torches, and it bursted into flames. She aimed it at Lurconis, and the snake demon reared back and screamed in pain. Her mother watched int terror. Buffy waved the pipe around until Lurconis is engulfed in pushed the gas pipe aside as the demon retreated back into the tunnel screaming. Above her Trick was smiling down through the manhole.

"You and me, girl. There's hard times ahead ", Trick told her as she spun around to face him.

Trick got up and made himself scarce.

"They never just leave. They alway s gotta say something",Buffy said annoyed.

Her mother came out from the shadows and went over by Buffy .

"Can we go home now?"her mother asked her.

Giles got up, soaked to the skin.

"Yeah, we can go home. I've got the SATs tomorrow",Buffy said depressed.

"Oh, blow them off. I'll write you a note",her mother said as she went back to the babies.

"No. It's okay", Buffy said as she joined her mom.

Buffy seriously considered accepting her mom's offer. But then she would probably get in trouble for it later and it was also very wrong.

"Poor on...",her mother said.

Giles went over to help as well. The three of them took the babies back to the hospital and went home.

The following Monday the school was a buz with what had happend on Friday. Of, course asper usual there were multiple rumors, none were real. Snyder was walking along at a quick pace. Xander saw him and of course Buffy had told him about what had happend on Friday so he couldn't resist.

"Hey, Snyder. Heard you had some fun Friday night. Have you come down yet?"Xander teased him.

Behind him Cordelia smiled, but tried to hide it so she wouldn't get in trouble with Snyder.

"That's 'Principal Snyder'",Snyder told Xander.

"And that's a big 'yep'",Xander said.

Snyder eyed Xander, Cordelia, Willow and Oz who were just standing there in the hallway.

"You look like four young people with too much time on your hands",Snyder said to them.

"Not really",Oz said.

"Busy like a bee, actually. Bee-like!"Cordelia said smiling.

"Good. I t seems we had some vandalism Friday on school property, and I was just looking for some ...volunteers to help clean it up",Snyder told them.

They all looked at the bank of lockers just down the hall. Willow read the lockers as Snyder walked througth the group and shut Xander's locker.

"'Kiss rocks'? Why would anyone wanna kiss...Oh, wait. I get it",She said getting a look from Snyder.

Snyder nodded.

"Let's get you some paint remover",Snyder said as the four reluctantly follow him.

Buffy and Giles were walking toward the street.

"It was just too much to deal with. It was like nothing made sense anymore. The things I thought I understood were gone. I just felt...so alone",Buffy told Giles.

"Was that the math or the verbal ?",Giles asked Buffy referring to the SATs.

"Mostly the math",Buffy told him.

"Well, if you scored low, then you can take them again",Giles told her.

"More SATs. Is there really a point? I could die before I even apply to college",Buffy told him.

The brakes of Buffy's mother's jeep squealed as she pulled to a stop at the curb. Buffy and Giles took the steps to the sidewalk.

"And then, you very possibly might not",Giles told her.

"Well, lets's just keep hope alive",Buffy said.

Her mother got out of the jeep, closed the door and walked up to the curb.

"Hello", Giles said smiling awkwardly.

"Hi",her mother said shyly.

"I say, your car seems to have had an adventure, doesn't it?"Giles said referring to the dent in the jeep.

The three of them looked at the severly dented rear door and back pannel.

"Uh, Buffy assures me that it happened battling evil, so I'm letting her pay for it on the installment plan",Buffy's mother told him.

"Uh, hey, the way things were going, be glad that's the worst thing that happened. At least I got to the two of you before you actually **did **something",Buffy said to them.

Buffy walked around to the passenger's side to get in. Her mother and Gile looked at the pavement too embarassed and not willing to admit what happened between them.

"Right",her mother said.

"I-indeed",Giles said.

"Y-yes",her mother said.

They both headed off in different directions.


	5. Revealtions

AN: Sorry it took so long guys. Family drama and classes were a bit mor important. The next chapter is the one to read thogh, It's the one where Oz and Buffy tell each other how they feel and have their first kiss. One more thing, Do you guys think I should make Xander and Willow a couple or just keep them split up? So that one will probably be up by April. Also thanks for the feedback guys. Keep it up.

Chapter three: Revelations

Willow,Xander and Cordelia were sitting at a table at the Bronze listening to the Dingoes play. The Broze was really of the time that Oz looked up from his bass he would smile at Willow but every now and then he would get this look on his face like he was looking for someone. Which he was and this someone in particular was Buffy Summers. Oz couldn't help but think of her. They had a connection. They were both werewolves. But no one knew how strong their connection was not even them. Both were having feelings for one another and they both were trying to repress their feelings for that person.

As soon as the song ended Oz went and joined his girlfriend and his friends at their table.

"Oz! Hey ! H ave a seat... Exccept we don't have any seats",Willow told her boyfriend.

"It's okay. I'll scrunch in", Oz told her.

Willow nudged over a bit with her stool to make room for Oz, and bumped into Xander. Willow gave him a nervous and guilty look and Xander hurriedly scooted over a bit as well. In the process he nudged up against Cordelia.

"Xander, why are you giving me a lap dance",Cordelia asked.

"What? I just like you",Xander said as he smiled weakly and stroked her arm.

Cordelia pulled her arm away from him and Xander squirmed to get comfortable.

"And that's very beautiful. I think it's great when two people like two people and want to be close to them instead of anyone else",Willow said stammering.

Oz smiled to himself he couldn't help but think of Buffy . He also was feeling guilty because Oz knew that Willow was talking about him. Oz always found Willow's stammering very cute and adorable. But, now he felt guilty because he had feelings toward Buffy while Willow only had feelings toward him. Except that wasn't the case.

"Here, here!"Xander said nervously.

"Yeah. Well put. Hey, can I snag a sip?"Oz asked Willow pointing to the cup.

"Sure",Willow told him.

"Yeah, you got it",Xander also said.

Willow and Xander both reached for the cup at the same time and their hands touched. They both look at each other in surprise and yanked their hands away and accidently knocked a tray of drinks out of the waitressed hand behind them. Xander slips off his stool and tries to catch them but is obviously too late and looks at the spilled drinks on the him the crowd is applauding his graceful maneuver and goes with it and raises his hands to the crowd in on the other hand was turning red from embarrasment. Willow and Xander were both acting weird around each other since the kiss incident. So now hanging out with each other was awkward.

"Thank you! Thank you! Uh, we're here through Saturday. Enjoy the veal,"Xander said to the crowd.

Willow still embarrassed tries to hid her face as Xander gets back up on his stool. Oz reaches for a cup of his own.

"Why are you guys so hyper?"Cordelia asked wondering why Willow and Xander were acting so wierd.

Oz took a sip from Willow's cup.

"Hey ! Speaking of people and things they do that aren't like usual, anyone noticing Buffy acting sort of different?"Willow asked nervously, trying to change the subject.

Oz grimaced at the cup and put it on the table.

"Let's see, uh, killing zombies...uh, torching sewer monsters, and oooh uh she got bit and turned into a werewolf. That's different right?"Xander asked the others.

"Yes, but I meant that you know, she's off by herself a lot more, and she's kinda of... distracted",Willow said concerned.

"Speaking as someone who not too long ago found out that he was a werewolf, it's something that changes you so Buffy could be trying to deal with this",Oz tried to explain seeing as that when Buffy was off on her own 50% of the time he was with her.

"Or do you think that she maybe she has a new honey ?"Cordelia asked.

Oz felt a tug of jealousy at his heart. He didn't like this feeling or the thought that Buffy was seeing someone else.

"A boyfriend? Why wouldn't she tell us?"Willow asked a little hurt that if Buffy did have a new boyfriend she didn't tell her.

"Excuse me? When your last steady killed half the class, and then your rebound sends you a dump-o-gram?It makes a girl shy",Cordelia told them.

"But we're the best of Buffy's buds. She'd tell us",Xander explained not noticing that Buffy had arrived and was behind them.

"Tell you what?"Buffy asked them.

"About your new boyfriend, who we made up. Unless we didn't?"Willow asked her giving her an inquiring look.

"This was the topic of discussion",Buffy said and raised her eyebrows.

"Well, raised , but never discussed",Oz told her to make her feel a little better.

Truthfully Oz hated even thinking about this subject.

"So, are you dating somebody or not?"Cordelia asked.

Buffy angled her eyes up and swayed around a bit, considering what she should say.

"I wouldn't use the word'dating', but I am going out with someone. Tonight, as a matter of fact",Buffy told them.

"Really? Who?"Willow asked wanting to know more.

Oz wanted to know that to but for entirely different reasons. He wanted to know because he wanted to punch his lights out and tell him to stay away from his Buffy.

Faith arrived and put her hand on Xander's shoulder and pulls him aside a little so she could squeeze in.

"Yo, what's up? Hey, time to motorvate",Faith said referring to patrolling.

Buffy put her arm around Faith.

"Really , we're just good friends",Buffy said teasing her friends as she and Faith headed out of the club.

Oz was relieved that Buffy wasn't seeing anyone. But one thing was for sure when it came to Buffy he got jealous really easy and that wasn't good because if he didn't keep his feelings in check that meant someone or everyone could find out about his feelings for Buffy. Oz watched as the two slayers headed out of the club together.

Buffy and Faith headed to the cemetery for patrolling and no sooner than they got there were they fighting vampires. But in a syncronized fashion while Giles watched and took and drank his tea. As soon as the two had dusted their vampires they high-fived each other and headed over to Giles.

"Syncronized slaying",Buffy said.

"New Olympic category ?"Faith asked Buffy jokingly.

"Whadaya think ?"Buffy asked Giles.

Giles lowered his coffee cup looking like he was about to answer her question.

"Sloppy", a unknown woman said out of nowhere.

They all turned to look at the unkown looked serious and very watcher like.

"You telegraph punches, leave blind sides open and, uh, for a school-night slaying, take entirely too much time. Which one of you is Faith ?"the she-watcher asked them.

Giles looked back at the girls curious as to what either of them were going to say.

"Depends. Who the hell are you?"Faith asked the woman who just insulted their syncronized slaying style.

"Gwendolyn Post, Mrs. Your new watcher", she explained to the three.

The two slayers exhanged a look and then looked over at Giles who still hadn't said a word. Which was odd for Giles. The man asked questions and researched answers. Truth was he was dumbfounded by the whole situation. Seeing as Giles wasn't going to speak up Buffy thought she should.

"Well, Mrs. Post as you pointed out it is a school night, so we should get going",Buffy said as she and Faith left for home before anyone could stop them.

The next day at school Buffy and Faith went to the libary to talk to Giles about she-watcher but found that she was already there. She was going through Giles's books. Buffy smiled at Giles and took a seat at the table which was covered with books. Faith stood by a corner of the table watching she-watcher.

"Look I know you came a long way in all but I'm telling you I don't need a new watcher. No offense, lady. I just have this problem with authority figures. They end up kind of dead",Faith explained to Gwendolyn and nodded sarcastically.

Faith took a seat next to Buffy.

"Duly noted, and fortunately , it's not up to you", Gwendolyn said as she walked past the table.

Buffy and Faith exchanged a look. She-watcher walked around the table looking around at the few stacks of books in the study area.

", where do you keep the rest of your books?"Gwendolyn asked him.

"I-I'm sorry . The rest?"Giles asked her as he slipped on his glasses.

"Yes, the actual libary ", Gwendolyn said matter-of-factly.

Buffy really didn't like this broad and it wasn't just because she was trying to out-watcher Giles. There was something off about her.

Giles gave Gwendolyn a confused look. He didn't know what she was talking about his collection was more than atiquite.

"Oh. I see",Gwendolyn said and smiled thinly.

"I can assure you, Mrs. Post, this is the finest occult refrence collection..."Giles tried to convince Gwendolyn.

"...This side of the Atlantic, I'm sure. Do you have Hume's Paranormal Encyclopedia?"Gwendolyn asked Giles interupting him.

Giles looked away. Giles knew that his collection was indeed superior but still incomplete. But, that didn't mean that Gwendolyn had to point out the holes in his collection. He could already tell that he was not going to get along with this lady.

"The Labyrinth Maps of Malta?"Gwendolyn asked still trying to upstage him.

Buffy gave him a hopeful look.

"It's on order",Giles told her lowering his head a little.

"Well,I suppose you have Sir Robert Kane's Twilight Compendium?"She asked not very hopeful that he had it.

"Oh!uh...",Giles said looking around for the one book he actually had. "Yes, I...Yes! Yes I do".

Giles pulls out the book.

"Of course you do. I have been sent by the council for a very important reason. Faith needs a watcher. I am to act in that capacity and report back",Gwendolyn said explaing why she was here.

'Just Because they sent you here, doesn't mean we have to like it',Buffy thought.

"Excuse me, Mary Poppins,you don't seem to be listening",Faith told her leaning forward in the chair.

"Faith, if the council feels that you need closer observation, then...We will all, of course, cooperate",Giles told them.

Faith leaned back in the chair, not at all happy that Mary Poppins was staying. Buffy wasn't either.

"The council wishes me to report on the entire situation here, including you", Gwendolyn said to Giles.

That took Giles by surprise. Why would the council have a problem with him.

"Academic probation's not so funny today, huh, Giles?", Buffy said teasing Giles.

Giles glares at her and Buffy glares right back.

"The fact is, there is talk in the council that you have become a bit too...American",Gwendolyn explained.

Buffy was taken by surprise at this. The council thought that Giles was too American. Rupert Giles; Tweed wearing, tea drinking, supernatural researching, English born Giles was too American.

"Me ?"Giles said taken aback.

"Him?"Buffy said surprised.

"A demon named Lagos is coming here to the Hellmouth. Mr. Giles, an illustration of Lagos, if you please",Gwendolyn said.

"Oh, uh...",Giles said a little flustered.

Buffy felt sorry for Giles. To have to deal with this she-watcher trying to upstage him. She knew how he felt. She felt the same way when Faith came. But she adjusted.

"Perhaps later",Gwendolyn said bitchingly.

Giles stopped looking , very taken aback. He began to seethe.

"Lagos seeks the Glove of Myhnegon. No record of this glove's full power exists, but we do know it is highly dangerous and must not fall into the hands of a demon. Lagos must be stopped",Gwendolyn explained.

Giles folded his hands over his books and looked up at her

"What do you propose?"Giles asked wanting to know what her plan was.

"Well, if it's not too radical a suggestion, I thought we might kill him",Gwendolyn said responding to Giles' question like it was the dumbest question she ever heard.

Giles turned his head away from her and took off his glasses.

"I suggest two slayers at full strength for a coordinated hunt",Gwendolyn said.

Buffy gave Faith a look and Faith gave the she-watcher and even stare. Both of them clearly didn't like her or like getting ordersfrom her.

"We believe the glove to be buried in a tomb somewhere, so Lagos will be headed for the cemetery",Gwendolyn told them.

What she did not know was there was more than one tomb in Sunnydale. But she would have if she had done her research on Sunnydale like any good watcher would have.

"There is more than one in Sunnydale",Giles said trying very hard not to gloat.

"I see how many ?"Gwendolyn asked him.

"Uh, twelve, within the city limits",Giles told her.

Gwendolyn took a deep breath.

"Well, we'll just have to take them one at at time",Gwendolyn said to them.

Giles put his glasses back on and started to look through his books again.

"Anything in your books that might pinpoint the exact location of the tomb would be useful, but then, we cannot ask for miracles", Gwendolyn said taunting him.

Giles let his book drop to the table and made a point of looking directly away from her, rubbing his fingers, trying to keep his cool. Buffy had to hand to Giles she was sure that he would lost by now. She would have lost her cool a long time ago.

"We will begin tomorrow at sunset. Faith ...With me, please",Gwendolyn said.

Gwendolyn gave her a small smile and walked away from the library. Faith gave Buffy a glance, then followed her out. Giles visibly relaxed when they were out of sight.

"That was bracing",Giles told Buffy.

Giles slapped his glasses onto the table and leaned his lips into his fist.

"Intresting lady. Can we kill her?"Buffy asked Giles hopefully.

Giles lowered his fist.

"I think the council might frown upon that",Giles told her, even though he desperately wanted to say yes.

Giles stood up.

"Well...How do you feel about a spot of training?"Giles asked her.

Buffy smiled at him and so they trained for a few hours.

After training Buffy started to head home but somehow ended over by the mansion. Something was pulling her here. Buffy went inside and was shocked and what she found there.

Buffy sneakily walked past the garden area and saw Angel alive and well reading a book in front of the fire place. She was so shocked she didn't think she could had so many questions. First of all, was he Angel or Angelus. Second, how did he get back here and why didn't he tell her and last where did this leave her feelings for Oz.

She looked back to where Angel was reading and she saw his head come up from his book.

"Who's there?"he asked.

Buffy walked over to him and she did not look happy to see him like he had envisioned so many times.

"Buffy",Angel said .

"What in the hell are you doing alive ?"Buffy asked him.

"I don't really know to tell you the truth",Angel told her.

"So you came back and you what hide from me and the rest of the gang", Buffy said.

"I couldn't face you after what I did", Angel told her.

Buffy's anger suddenly melted away and she now felt saddness for Angel. She got closer to him and looked him in the eye.

"You know it wasn't you who did those things. It was Angelus",Buffy told him.

"Is there a difference",Angel said and he walked away from her.

"Of course there's a difference",Buffy said angrily following him. "You never would have done the things Angelus did. You never would have tried to end the world or kill Miss Calendar or torture Giles. Never, you hear me".

Angel gave her a small smile.

"You know we can never go back there. I think it's safer if we just-",Angel started to say.

"Stay away from each other at least for the time being",Buffy said.

"Yeah",Angel said agreeing with her.

"That's a good idea. Got my hands full anyway. Looking for a demon called Lagos whose trying to get his hands on a glove of something or other and add that on top of what I have to deal with, with now being a werewolf",Buffy told him.

"Werewolf ?"Angel asked.

"It's a long story",Buffy told him. "I should get going. Listen I won't tell the others you're alive. They wouldn't understand that you're not Angelus anymore".

Angel nodded and Buffy left the mansion.

Angel continued to think on the conversation. The name Lagos sounded familar now he just had to remember where he heard it from.

The next night Buffy and Faith were on patrol talking about Faith's conquests.

"Ronnie, deadbeat. Steve, klepto. Kenny ...Drummer. Eventually, I just had to face up to my destiny as a loser it's strictly get some, get gone. You can't trust guys",Faith said explaining her history with guys.

"You can trust some guys",Buffy told Faith and earned a doubtful look from Faith. "Really , I've read about them".

Faith laughed.

As far as their histories went Buffy took the prize at least none of Faith's exes went evil after they slept together and killed people and tried ending the world.

"Yeah. So, what about you?"Faith asked.

"You mean like, me and guys me?"Buffy asked.

"mm-hm",Faith said.

Buffy's favorite subject. She hated explaining her and Angel to people. But truthfully he was on her mind now that he was back.

"Not much to tell these days",Buffy said.

"Yeah, but you gotta have stories. I mean, I've had my share of losers, but you...You boinked the undead. What was that liked?"Faith asked trying to get some details out of her.

"Life with Angel's... Was complicated. It's still a little hard for me to talk about",Buffy tried explaining to Faith.

"Well, try",Faith said now bordering on rude and nosy.

Buffy and Faith had stopped walking .

"Look, Faith, all the Angel issues are still kinda with me, so if you don't mind, I'd rather not", Buffy said kinda harshly.

"Yeah. Yeah, whatever",Faith said shrugging it off.

Buffy looked away.

"You know what? We're oh for six tonight. Why don't we just blow this off ?"Faith told her.

"Yeah. I am kinda beat. But-but Shady Hill's pretty close", Buffy said.

"I'll swing through it. It's on my way anyway",Faith told her.

"Alone? I-I don't know if I'd...",Buffy said worried.

"I got Miss Priss on my back now. I don't need another baby-sitter. I'll holler if I'm having any fun",Faith told her.

Buffy smiled at her thinly. Faith was right she could take care of herself.

"Okay",Buffy said.

Faith nodded and went down the street.

"Later",Faith said.\

"Thanks",Buffy said.

Buffy watched her go for a moment before she turned and went home. Or so she thought. Buffy had decided to drop by the mansion. She didn't know why she decided that. But she had a feeling Angel had something to tell her.

She walked into Angel's mansion and sure enough he had something to tell her. But, unbeknownst to her Xander was hiding in the shadows watching them shocked that Angel was alive.

"Buffy, what are you doing-",Angel started to say until she was interupted.

"here? I know it's wierd but I had this feeling like I should come find. That you had something to tell me",Buffy said and then looked behind him at something covered in a cloth. "What's that?"

"It's good you did come here. I think I have what you're looking for",Angel told her and she followed him over to the mystery object.

"Great... Just, wherever this was gift-wrapped, remind me not to shop there",Buffy said to him.

Angel unwrapped the rags and revealed the Glove of Myhnegon.

"Glove of Myhnegon",Angel said.

"The world's ugliest fashion accessory",Buffy said before reaching out to touch it.

Angel quickly stopped her hand with his.

"No, don't. Once you put it on, the glove can never be removed ",Angel explained the glove to her.

"So...no touching",Buffy said.

Angel wrapped the glove back in the rags.

"You hold on to it. I'll... I'll tell Giles in the morning . At least he'll be happy",Buffy said.

But if she only knew that Xander was telling Giles at this vey moment that Angel was back and she knew.

Buffy then decided to take off and go home and await the horrible day that waited for her tomorrow.

The next day Buffy quickly headed to the library to tell Giles about the Glove and when she came in the library everybody was sitting and waiting for her.

That quickly sent off alarms in her head. This was not going to be good.

"Lagos is out of luck. I got the magic mitten thingy",Buffy told them.

Their expressions did not change.

"What's with all the tragedy masks",Buffy asked them.

"Better take a seat Buffy",Giles told her.

Xander got out of his chair and nudged it over a bit so it was at the head of the table. He then headed over to stand next Cordelia. Buffy slowly stepped over to the chair.

"What's going on?"Buffy sat down.

"We know Angel is alive",Giles said to her as she looked shooked.

Buffy 's eyes immediately went to Oz. He looked as non chalant as he always did. But, inside he was hurt he wanted to know why she was hiding Angel from them and why she needed to see him.

"Xander saw you with him. It would appear that you've been hiding him and that you've lied to us",Giles continued sounding hurt.

Buffy looked away, trying to absorb all this new information.

"Nobody's here to blame you, Buffy. But this is serious you need help",Willow explained.

She had only found that Angel was back yesterday. Did they want to find her side of the story before judging her? She never staged an intervention when they dated demons or cheerleaders.

"It's not what you think",Buffy said looking up at Willow.

"Hope not. Because I think you're harboring a vicious killer",Xander said judgementally.

Buffy couldn't believe how judgemental Xander was being. She was never this judgemental when she found out about him and Cordelia.

"This isn't about attacking Buffy. Remember, 'I' statements only. 'I feel angry '. 'I feel worried.", Willow said trying to mediate.

"Fine. Here's one: I feel worried... about me!Last time around, Angel barely laid a hand on Buffy. He was **way **more interested in killing her friends",Cordelia told her.

"Hold on one minute here, does anyone wanna hear my side of this",Buffy yelled.

"Should we? I mean your history with Angel speaks for itself",Xander said.

Buffy had decided she had enough of this.

"What is this Demons anonymous? I don't need an intervention, here",Buffy said as she started to leave.

"Oh don't you?"Giles said to her as she stopped and looked at him. "You must've known it was wrong seeing Angel or you wouldn't have hidden it from all of us".

"I just found out that he was back two days ago not that I owe any of you an explanation at this point. I wanted figure out how I felt about him being back before I told you guys. My -so-called bestfriends.I -I didn't know why he was back. I wanted to wait.",Buffy said defending herself.

Willow was now looking at her feet feeling guilty about this intervention. But, she was the only one.

"For what? For Angel to go psycho again after you give him a happy ?"Xander asked.

"Again I found out two days ago and we decided to stay away from each other. We knew that was what was best for everyone. So, no Xander we're not together now or ever again. We're done for good. Not that you deserve to hear such things right now",Buffy told Xander glaring at him.

"For good ?"Oz said finally speaking.

Buffy looked Oz right in the eye.

"For good", she said looking at him and gave him a small smile.

Willow looked at Oz and Buffy and figured the only reason that he cared was because the two of them had gotten close because of the whole werewolf thing. If she only knew.

Oz felt a whole lot better knowing that Angel and Buffy were done for good. When he heard about Angel it brought out a jealous side of himself that he didn't really know he had. The only time he felt anything close to that was when he wolfed out. He didn't like feeling like this.

Buffy thought about everything everyone had said since she had came in the library and realized something.

"Xander you told Giles that Angel was back? But, how did you know?"Buffy asked him.

Xander looked away from her.

"You were spying on me? What gives you the right?"Buffy asked him practically brurning a hole in his head from all the glaring she was doing.

"What gives you the right to suck face with your demon lover again?"Cordelia said.\

"How is this any of your business Cordelia? You and I aren't friends. Why are you even here?"Buffy said.

"Hey! lay off of her. This isn't her fault it's yours. You didn't think of our feelings and you don't care what happens to us when this explodes in your face. You'll just leave us to clean up the mess again. And you'll say you'll stop him if he turns evil but then again you said that before he killed Ms. Calendar",Xander said insensitively.

Buffy couldn't believe Xander was this insensitive and unfair. She was so stunned that she couldn't udder another word to him.

"Buffy, I feel that when it comes to Angel , you can't see straight. And that's why we're, we're all going to help you face this",Willow said nervously.

"Look he's better now. I swear. Look, you guys, he's the one that found the Glove of Myhnegon. H-he's keeping safe for us in the mansion",Buffy tried explaining.

"Right! Great plan. Leave tons of firepower with the Scary Guy, and leave us to clean up the mess",Xander told her angrily.

Xander started make his way to leave the library when Buffy grabbed his arm and spun him around to face her.

"You would just love an excuse to hurt him, wouldn't you?"Buffy asked Xander knowing the answer.

"I don't need an excuse. I think lots of dead people actually constitutes a reason",Xander explained to her.

"Right. This is all nobility. This has nothing to do with jealousy",Buffy said.

Buffy always knew Xander was jealous of Angel. She liked Angel and not him. Angel got to her before he could. Even though Xander was with Cordelia she knew if she even gave Xander a thread of hope that there was any feelings of love for him he would dump Cordelia in a second.

Xander gave her a haughty grin.

"Hello?Miss Not-over-yourself-yet?"Cordelia said.

"Are you still here?"Buffy told Cordelia because truthfully right now there wasn't much more she could stand from the bitchy cheerleader.

"Giles, no one's doing the 'I ' statements",Willow said upset.

"That's enough! Everybody. Now, Buffy know our concerns, and her actions, however ill-advised, can be understood. Our...Priority right now is to retrieve the Glove of Myhnegon and try to destroy it. Now, all of you, back to your classes",Giles told them.

Everyone, except Buffy gathered their things and left to go to their classes. Buffy followed Giles into his office and stops by his office door.

"Thanks for the bail back there",Buffy said to him uneasily.

Giles still didn't turn around and face her.

"I know this is a lot to absorb, but Angel did find the glove, and that was good...",Buffy started to explain but was interupted.

"Be quiet. I won't remind you that the fate of the world often lies with the Slayer. What would be the point? Nor shall I remind you that you've jeopardized the lives of all that you hold dear by harboring a known murderer. But sadly, I must remind you that Angel tortured me... for hours... for pleasure. You should have told me he was alive. You didn't. You have no respect for me, or the job I perform",Giles explained harshly to her.

Buffy averted her eyes in shame while Giles turned back to his desk and sat down. Buffy stood in the doorway for a long moment before leaving to go to her classes.

This is why she wanted to wait. She knew it would hurt Giles the most because Angel did the most damage to him. She did remember that Angel tortured him and killed the woman that he loved which was why she didn't tell him. He was biased when it came to Angel. Giles hated him, with good reason. But there was no way that Giles was going to see Angel comming back good. All he would see was the monster that tortured him and killed Jenny.

After a couple of classes in solitude Buffy thought it was time she faced at least one of the gang, and as if on cue she walked the corner and saw Willow at her took a breath to calm herself and headed over to her friend.

"Hey",Buffy said to her hopefully still bestfriend.

"Hey !",Willow said still gathering her stuff.

"So on a scale of one to a millon, how much are you hating me right now?"Buffy asked her worriedly.

Buffy knew that she needed to mend some fences. But, what she did was not all that horrible. She didn't know Angel was alive that much longer than them. Besides, Xander attacking her like he did was way worse than the offense she was being accused of. Truthfully, she didn't know if she could forgive Xander right now. What he said was insensitive and hurtful. She knew it was going to take a couple of days at least attempt to get back to normal. But, right now they had other things to worry about like Lagos and that took first priority.

"Zero. You were scared, you kept a secret, you know?"Willow said a little jumpy as she zipped up her backpack. "That's-it-it's okay. I mean, secrets aren't bad. You know, they're normal. They're better than normal. They're good. Secrets are good. Must be a reason why we keep them, right?"

Willow closed her locker and the two best friends started to walk down the hall together.

"Yeah, Iguess",Buffy said wondering what secret Willow was hiding.

"So, are you going to the Bronze tonight, or, uh, are you gonna sneak away for a not-so-secret rendezvous?"Willow asked.

"None of the above. After this whole Glove thing is done with we're staying away from each other so, I figured I could quicken the pace on the whole Lagos thing by going out and killing him. Also, it's a peace offering to Giles",Buffy explained to Giles.

"Well, Angel has the glove now, right?"Willow asked her.

"Yep. But Lagos doesn't know that. I figure sooner or later he's bound to show up at the crypt looking for it",Buffy explained her plan to Willow.

"Ah, but instead he finds a Buffy in a not-so-good mood",Willow added.

"That's my brillant plan",Buffy told her.

Willow and Buffy then parted ways. Willow was going to see if Giles needed anymore help with the research on Lagos and the Glove. Buffy thought now would be a good time to find the next person on her list. Oz. She didn't really care what Cordelia thought about her and Giles was still really mad at her, with good reason and she wasn't ready to talk to Xander yet.

Buffy went in search of him and finally found him practicing out in the quad. She couldn't help but think how sexy he was playing the guitar. She immediately scolded herself for such thoughts.

"Bestfriend's boyfriend. Bestfriend's boyfriend",Buffy mumbled to herself.

She walked over to him and he immediately stopped playing when he saw that she was standing next to him.

"Hey. Can I sit?"Buffy asked him.

Oz nodded.

They sat in silience for awhile.

"I'm sorry. About the whole Angel thing",Buffy said.

"It's okay you don't owe me and explanation",Oz told her.

"Yeah, I do. Because, I feel like you and I have gotten close since the whole werewolf thing happend and I don't want this to ruin it",Buffy explained.

"It won't. We're good",Oz told her and smiled at her.

"Okay. So, how's Dingoes doing ?"Buffy asked him.

Buffy and Oz sat there and talked about the Dingoes and Lagos and werewolf things and a whole lot of other subjects. Oz even played some of the new stuff he was working on. Out of all the gang Oz was the realtionship she was most worried about this whole Angel thing damaging. She was glad it didn't wreck it. Buffy knew that she and Oz couldn't be anything. But, she was grateful for his friendship and support during the whole werewolf thing.

Buffy said goodbye to Oz and headed off to class.

Later that night at the cemetary Buffy was sitting on a stone bench and Willow pacing back and forth waiting for Lagos to show up.

"Um, not to downplay my own slaying abilities, which in some circles are considered formidable, but shouldn't Faith be here?"Willow asked.

"I tried calling, but no one was home. Look, if you're feeling any demon-o-phobia, please, splitting is totally an option. You're not the one in trouble with Giles",Buffy told her.

"That's true",Willow said as she continued pacing.

"How long do you think he can stay mad at me, anyway ?" Buffy asked Willow wanting to know her opinion.

"The emotional marathon man?"Willow asked answering her.

"Yeah. I can't really blame him. It's wierd, though. I know that Angel wasn't a secret for very long but I felt bad keeping from you guys and now that you know and it's all out in the open...I feel better",Buffy explained to her.

"Well, **sure **you do. This big burden's been lifted. I mean, keeping secrets is a lot of work", Willow said as she stopped pacing. "One could hypothetically imagine."

"You have no idea", Buffy said.

Willow laughed uneasily. If Buffy knew what she knew She would've thought that not only was she a hypocrite but that Xander was one too. But, things were already bad enough between the two she didn't want to add fuel to the fire.

"None whatsoever. But...Can I ask you a question?"Willow asked as she sat down next to Buffy.

Buffy nodded.

"When you were with Angel and nobody knew about it, did that make it feel, you know, sexier somehow?" Willow asked her.

"No. We weren't doing anything to feel sexy about so, no",Buffy told her.

"Oh", Willow said disappointed.

Buffy knew something was up with Willow, asking her questions like this. She had some secret that she was keeping from either her or someone else.

"What makes you think all this secret stuff is sexy, anyway?"Buffy asked trying to figure out what secret she was keeping.

"Nothing. I'm just wondering. Gotta keep asking the big old questions when you're blessed with this girl's thurst for knowledge and... Okay. There's something I have to tell you",Willow said giving in.

"What?",Buffy asked her wanting to know what she was keeping from her.

Willow got up from where she was sitting.

"Okay. This will make me feel better, right? You know, I always consider myself a good person. Floss, do my homework, never cheat. But lately, and please don't judge me on this, but I want you to be the first to know that, that...",Willow started to say but stopped when she saw Lagos behind Buffy. "There's a demon behind you".

Buffy looked behind her and sure enough there was Lagos. Buffy kicked her legs up to spin herself around on the bench. She used the momentum form the kick to start a running attack. She jumped into kick into Lagos' stomach. Lagos stepped backwards as she fell to the ground. Lagos reached for Buffy and grabbed her by the neck. He pulled her up only to flip her back down. Buffy landed hard on her back. Buffy got back on her feet and came at Lagos with punch to gut and face. She backhand punched his face and half spun another backhand punch. She then tries for an elbow jab, which he blocks and grabs her arm and reaches for her leg. He lifts her up above his head. Willow couldn't stand it anymore and had to help in some way sho she started to wave her arms wildly in protest.

"Dont...",Willow told the demon.

Lagos suddenly dropped Buffy, and she landed hard on her back. Willow cringed at the sight. She thought she was helping her bestfriend. Buffy quickly got to her feet and stepped to the right as Lagos swung a fist at her head. He missed and smashed his fist into a stone cross. Buffy took advantage of an opening, Buffy stepped in front kicks him in the gut and, following up with a roundhouse kick to his face and a kick to his crotch. Lagos doubled over in pain. Willow winced at how painful it looked. She was so happy that she was not guy and would never feel that pain. Buffy spied the battle-ax on his back.

"Now we're talking",Buffy said.

Buffy grabbed the battle-ax, pulled it from it's sheath and swung it around as Lagos straightened back up. In one stroke Lagos was suddenly headless. His head rolled along the ground a little ways before stopping. Willow pumped her arms into the air in front of her in excitement.

"Yes!"Willow said excitedly.

Willow moved her gesture into crossed arms. Buffy came walking over to her.

"Sorry about that. So, what were you saying?"Buffy asked her trying to continue their conversation from before.

"Oh, I... I opened my SAT test booklet five minutes early", Willow said deciding against telling Buffy the truth and Buffy just gave her a blank look. "Just doesn't seem important now, does it?"

Buffy smiled at her.

"Your secret's safe with me. Come on. Let's go bring Giles some happiness", Buffy said to Willow looking at Lagos' body.

Buffy shouldered the battle-ax and the two girls headed for the library not knowing what awaited them when they got there.

Buffy and Willow hurried to the school and walked to the library . They opened the doors and walked in.

"Giles is gonna be psyched that we showed up stuffy old ",Buffy said to Willow.

When they walked further in and saw the paramedics there with Giles on a gurney. Buffy immediately tossed the battle-ax over the counter as to not raise questions from the paramedics.

"Oh, my god",Buffy said and rushed to Giles side.

"Sunnydale Medical...",the paramedic said into her radio.

"What happened?"Buffy asked the paramedics.

"...Caucasian male, mid-forties...", the paramedic continued to say in the radio.

"Giles...",Buffy said sadly.

Buffy didn't know how this happened or why but she was worried about Giles. He looked broken. He had been hurt many times but being hauled off by the paramedics. This was the first time he looked broken to her.

"...Blunt object head trama. Notify the ER, we're bringing him in",the paramedic continued still ignoring Buffy.

"What happened?"Buffy continued to ask.

"No time for this ",the paramedic said rudely as they started to wheel him out.

"Wait", Giles said feebly coming out of unconsciousness. "Buffy, you must... Must destroy the glove."

"You want him to live? Get out of the way", the paramedic said sternly and rudely.

Buffy didn't move and the paramedics tried to quickly rolled Giles from the library.

"Use... Living... Flame..."Giles told Buffy.

"Move!"the paramedic yelled at her.

They slammed the doors open with the gurney and turned down the hall. Willow looked at Xander worried. She wanted to know what went down. Buffy watched untill the gurney has disappeared, then she also turned to Xander for an explanation. She gave him a blank stare seeing as she was still very angry at him for attacking her earlier.

"What happened?"Buffy asked him.

"Your boyfriend's not as cured as you thought",Xander told her.

Buffy knew he was going to blame Xander for this. She just knew it. Doesn't matter if the evidence pointed otherwise.

"What makes you think that Angel had anything to do with this?"Buffy asked him.

"We saw what you saw",Xander told her.

"So you just assume?"Buffy asked him knowing the answer.

That was Xander's way with Angel. Blame first ask questions later. Even when he was dead wrong.

"I didn't. Faith did",Xander told her.

Willow gave Buffy a very concerned look. She couldn't believe he got Faith involved in this. He probably passed his judgements of Angel on to her.

"What did you tell her?"Buffy asked him very worried.

"Only what everyone knows. She's a big girl. Came to her own conclusions",Xander told them.

"How much of a head start does she have",Buffy asked Xander angrily.

Buffy became more pissed off at him by the minute. Even standing the same room as him pissed her off. When this was all over Xander was going to need to do some serious grovelling to get back on her good side.

"Ten minutes", Xander told her.

Buffy stepped over to Willow.

"Go through Giles' research. Figure out how to destroy the glove",Buffy told her.

Buffy glared at Xander for a second. She couldn't believe he would actually do such a thing. She thought he knew her well enough to know that she wouldn't have let him near the glove if she thought he was evil again. But then to tell Faith. She didn't know if she actually knew Xander anymore if he would do something like this. Buffy ran out of the library. Willow watched her go and then looked at Xander accusingly. He tried to say something but Willow wouldn't let him get a word out.

"Shut up and help me",Willow told him angrily.

Something told him that Willow was almost as mad at him as Buffy was.

Buffy ran as fast as she heading for the mansion to catch up with Faith and when she finally got there she sees Faith attacking Angel and about to stake him. She ran over to them and knocked the stake out of her hand.

"What?"Faith asked confused as to what Buffy was doing.

Buffy grabbed her by the waist and threw her away from Angel. Buffy is faced off against Faith. Both of the slayers were ready to fight the other.

"I can't let you do it, Faith", Buffy told her.

"You're confused twinkie",Faith smiled ironically. "Let me clear you up. Vampire."

She pointed to Angel.

"Slayer."

She pointed to herself.

"Dead vampire."

She pointed to Angel again.

"There's a lot that you don't understand",Buffy told her.

"Faith",Gwendolyn said groggily from being attacked by Angel.

The two slayers looked over at her.

"She doesn't know. She's blinded by love,"Gwendolyn said weak from her fight.

"Faith, no",Buffy told her.

That couldn't be further from the truth. She wasn't blinded by love. She'd always love Angel, but she wasn't in love with him.

"Trust me",Gwendoly n said to her.

Faith looked back and forth between them trying to figure out who to trust.

"Faith, we can figure this out...",Buffy said dropping her guard.

Faith did a full spinning kick to Buffy's face. She took the hit hard,falling to her knees. Faith delivered two roundhouse kicks to Buffy's gut while she was still on the floor. Buffy stood up and did an uppercut punch to Faith's right arm, knocking the stake from her hand. Buffy backhand punched Faith in the face, and punched her in the chest. She shoved Faith backward, and Faith took a few stumbling steps, trying to steady herself. Buffy did a jumping double roundhouse kick, alternating her legs, both of which are blocked by Faith. Buffy tried a backhand punch, but Faith blocked it. Buffy whirled around and punched Faith in the face with her other hand, catching Faith off guard. Faith leaned in again and tried to punch Buffy, but she middle blocked it and punched Faith in the gut and again in the face. Faith droped to the floor, but thinks fast and tried to sweep kick Buffy's legs out from under her, but Buffy jumped to avoid it. Faith scrambled back up, and the two girls faced off again. Buffy blocked two roundhouse kicks from Faith. Buffy tried a high out-to-in crescent kick, which Faith easily ducked. Faith rised back up and did a spinning back kick that hits Buffy squarely in the back, sending her to her knees. Faith rushed up behind her and grabs her in a choke hold around her neck. Buffy grabed Faith's arm and twists her body around, trying to throw Faith off, but to no avail. She grabed Faith's fingers and pulled them backward, cracking her knuckles.

"Auuuugh!"Faith screamed.

Buffy is now able to throw Faith off with a twist of her body, and both girls ended up on the floor. Faith rolled into a wall, hitting her back against a corner. Buffy scrambled to her feet and ran at Faith, but she snaped out her leg and triped Buffy, making her fall again. Buffy rolled over her back and to her knees. While she is still crouched, Faith came in for an axe kick, trying to hit her on the way down. Buffy cross blocked her leg, grabed her ankle and raised her arms, throwing Faith off balance and to the floor. Faith quickly got to her feet, and the two Slayers faced off once again. Buffy rushed Faith and grabed her by the waist. The two of them went crashing through the French doors out into the atrium. When the glass had fallen, they both rolled away from each other and got to their feet, facing off a fourth time. Faith gave Buffy an angry look, spun all the way around and backhand punched Buffy in the face. Faith tried another backhand punch, which Buffy blocked. Faith punched Buffy in the gut and did another backhand punch to her face, this time connecting and forcing Buffy to her hands and knees. Faith advanced on her, but Buffy did a crouching back kick to her stomach, making her stagger backward into a metal garden chair. She quickly got up, grabbed the chair and threw it at Buffy, who sidesteped it, and it clanged to the stone walk.

Faith did a half-spinning crescent kick, which Buffy ducked, but got hit instead with Faith's next roundhouse kick. Faith swung a punch at Buffy, but she ducked it and blocked a backhand from Faith as well. Buffy faked a punch and instead elbowed Faith in the gut. Faith ducked the next punch. Buffy pushed Faith backwards and did a half spinning hook kick to her face, almost making her lose her balance. Both of them were so busy fighting that they didn't see Xander watching them or Buffy would've probably attached him seeing as thought this fight was in direct result of what Xander had told Faith.

Faith did a jumping roundhouse kick, which Buffy ducked. Xander came rushing out through the broken doors.

"What are you..."Xander started to ask them but seeing as they were getting ready to face off again he got in between them. "Stop! Guys, listen."

Faith grabed him by the shirt and threw him into a lamppost. He bounced off of it and hit the stone walkway hard. Back at the doorway, Buffy did a diving punch, knocking Faith in the head and making her cry out in pain.

Faith punched, but Buffy blocked. Buffy tried to punch, but is also blocked. Faith tried again, and is blocked again. Buffy grabbed onto Faith's throat, and Faith reached up to try to pry Buffy's hand off of her.

Up in the sky thunder and lightening boom. Buffy and Faith stop their fighting to see what is going on. The two slayer realize their fight is no longer with each other and let go. The two slayers see that she-watcher was now wearing the glove. Something was amiss.

"What's going on?"Faith asked her watcher.

Gwendolyn smiled maliciously.

Gwendolyn allowed herself to be distracted and lowered her glove arm and looked at Faith.

"Faith! A word of advice: you're an idiot",Gwendolyn told her.

Faith and Buffy looked at her in disbelief. Gwendolyn raised her arm to the sky .

"Tauo freim!"Gwendolyn said the words that would call forth the power of the glove.

Willow was waking up from the she-watcher attacking her and turned around just in time to see a blindingly bright bolt of lightening smash through the skylight and strike the glove. Shards of glass fell everywhere. Gwendolyn rejoiced in her newfound power. She turned to face the slayers and extended an arm toward them.

"Tauo freim!",Gwendolyn yelled.

The bolt of energy leaped from the glove at the two girls. They scrambled out of the way, and the bolt hit a tree in the atrium, instantly setting it ablaze. Buffy and Faith look at it in amazement, then turn their attention to what they could do about Gwendolyn. Angel also comes to now from being attacked by Faith, and quickly takes in the situation. Willow got to her feet and began backing away, stiff with fear, staring at Gwendolyn in shocked horror. The she-watcher spiuns around and aimed the glove at her.

"Tauo freim!",Gwendolyn shouted.

Thinking fast, Angel jumped to his feet and rushed toward Willow. A lightning bolt shot through the skylight, hit the glove and is redirected at Willow. Angel reached her just in time and roughly tackled her to the floor out of harm's way. The bolt hits the fireplace instead and leaves a deep scorch mark in the marble. Outside Buffy came up with a plan. \

"Can you draw her fire?"Buffy asked Faith.

"You bet I can", Faith told her.

"Go do it",Buffy told her.

Faith got to her feet and ran into the mansion. Gwendolyn saw her coming. Buffy sifted through the broken glass to find a larger piece, and got to her feet and ran into the mansion.

"I have the glove. With the glove comes the power",Gwendolyn said.

"I'm getting that",Buffy said to her and threw the shard of glass. It flew through the air like spinning blade and sliced Gwendolyn's upper arm cleanly, severing it from the glove. With nothing to control, the power of the glove became erratic, and small bolts and sparks of lightening came leaping out from the glove. Another bolt strikes through the skylight and, not having a target hits Gwendolyn in the chest. Gwendolyn screamed out at the top of her lungs as her body writhed inpain. Everyone kept watching helplessly as she kept screaming in pain. Buffy shut her eyes at the sight of it. She couldn't stand to see anymore of it. A moment later, with one final lightening bolt, what was left of Gwendoly n had vanashed in a bright flash. The mansion was again in relative darkness. Buffy opened her eyes and Willow and Angel got up to their feet. Xander headed inside from being attack by Faith earlier. Faith stood up from behind the couch. All that was left in the center of the room was glass and framework from the skylight and a smoking severed arm still attached to the glove. Then one by on the claws detatched itself from the arm.

No one said anything. They all just stared at each other. Then one by they all left for home, except Angel because unfortunately this was his home.

The next day at school Buffy had decided to face her friends. She headed to the lounge and saw Willow,Xander, Cordelia and Oz talking up there.

"What are you guys talking about?",Buffy asked them as she walked up to them.

"Oddly enough, you and Angel again",Oz told her.

She smiled at him as she sat down next to Xander.

"Since the whole thing with the glove is done, Angel and I are keeping as much distance from each other as we possibly can. We know we can't be together. But, as for fighting the evil darkness he's going to help as much as we let him",Buffy told them.

Oz smiled.

He liked that Angel and Buffy were keeping their distance from each other. He didn't know that he could be so happy about something that didn't really concern him.

Buffy looked back at Xander.

"Look Xander, you said some very hurtful things to me and-",Buffy started to say but was interupted by Xander.

"Why don't we forget all that. I wigged pretty harshly on you. I guess the thought of you and Angel back together after everything that happend, I leaned towards the postal. But I trust you",Xander told her.

Buffy nodded.

"Okay",Buffy said.

"I don't for the record",Cordelia said.

Buffy raised her eyebrows, not all that surprised. Behind her Giles had cleared his throat. Buffy turned to face him. He was leaning against the railing with a large bandage on his left temple.

"Let me guess: Gwendolyn Post: not a watcher",Buffy asked him.

"Yes, she was. She was, uh , kicked out by the council a couple of years ago for misuses of dark power. They swear there was a memo",Giles explained.

"Well, I better go",Buffy said and got up.

"Little more damage control",She said to Xander and left.

Buffy headed to Faith's motel and knocked on her motel room. She heard Faith say come in from behind the door. Buffy opened the door and peeks in and sees Faith laying on the bed.

"Hey",She says to her.

"The place looks real nice",Buffy said trying to break the ice.

"Yeah, it's real spartan",Faith told her.

"How are you",Buffy asked her.

"Five-by-five",Faith told her.

"I'll interpert that as good",Buffy said.

Faith didn't respond.

"Look, Gwendolyn Post, or whoever she may be, had us all fooled. Even Giles",Buffy told Faith trying to make her feel better about being tricked.

"Yeah, well, you can't trust people. I should've learned that by now",Faith said coldly.

"I realize this is gonna sound funny coming from someone that just spent a lot of time kicking your face... But you can trust me",Buffy told her.

"Is that right?"Faith asked amused by what Buffy said.

"I know I kept secrets, but I didn't have a choice. I'm on your side",Buffy told her.

"**I'm **on my side. That's enough",Faith explained to Buffy.

"Not always",Buffy said to her.

Faith shrugged.

"Is that it?"Faith asked her.

"Yeah, I guess",Buffy told her.

"Alright. Well, then, I'll see you",Faith said and adverts her eyes back to the t.v.

Buffy took the hint and turned to go. Faith shook her head, having a second thought.

"Uh,Buffy?"Faith asked.

Buffy faces her unexpectantly.

"Yeah?"Buffy said.

Faith reconsiders for a long moment and then changes her mind.

"Nothing",Faith said to her.

Buffy lowered her eyes, disappointed. She slowly turned back to the door and opened it and left. Buffy lingered by the door for a moment waiting to see if Faith would change her mind yet again but she didn't and Buffy left.


End file.
